Beast of Burden
by Red Constance
Summary: She was changing- physically, mentally- slowly and then all together. Rage seemed to own her, lust, fear and pain became inescapable. Something was wrong with Mars, and her like-brothers Scott and Stiles were going to figure it out even if it killed them. Or, at least, before it killed her. Eventual Stiles/OC. M for language. Seriously though.
1. Invasion of Privacy

**Opening Notes: **

**I've received a few anons via tumblr saying "More Stiles.", "Where's the romance?", etc. So, I would like to take this time to note that BoB is **_**not**_** primarily a romance. Note the "eventual" part of the Stiles/OC listing in the description. This is **_**Mars's**_** story in the world of Teen Wolf, not a retelling of the same story we've already seen with an extra body and some extra kissing. BoB is a character study, about family, loss, relationships, motivation, grief- not to mention Mars's affliction. You're learning as she does. Most of you have been absolutely **_**AMAZING**_**! However, if you're looking for purely fluffy romance, you've come to the wrong place (I mean, yes, there ****will**** be romance… and I think the romance it does have is kinda epic. I mean come on their ship name is STARS). Hope not too many of you go running off! Much love.**

**Beta'd/occasionally co-written by: **

**Shirosagi**

* * *

**Beast of Burden**

**Chapter One**

**Invasion of Privacy**

* * *

"_There are wounds that never show on the body_

_that are deeper and more hurtful_

_than anything that bleeds."_

-Laurell K. Hamilton

Sometimes life hits you hard. Like full force, wrecking ball flying off the chain and hitting you in the face. It happened that way for Mars once, when Claudia Stilinski died. The eight year old watched Claudia deteriorate, but having her be gone was different in its entirety. Death shattered Mars, made her look at herself, at her place in the world. In the grand scheme she was nothing, no matter how long she lived, what she did- She wouldn't even be a blip on a timeline, and her memory would die eventually. Everyone will continue on when its said and done. Those were the thoughts that haunted her every day.

Death was a weird thing to think about, something she never thought could happen. A time and a place where she simply wouldn't exist anymore. Sure, she might get brought up in a conversation or leave behind a house and a few kids, what have you- but really nothing she would ever do matters. In theory she could still watch her big brother on a sunny Saturday afternoon, sipping some tea on the porch and reading a good old book, she could watch her little sister fall in love, be happy and be sad- but no one really knows what's going to happen once you've gone.

Mars knew what she was when she was alive, she was the bad kid. The one new parents didn't want their children hanging out with, the one who wore too much eyeliner, wore too little clothes and kissed one too many boys. She was different, she intimidated people with piercing eyes and a smirk that said 'I dare you' no one could seem to imitate. She was "hot" but not in the Lydia Martin way, in fact she could be what's considered the Anti-Lydia. No, Mars Moss was hot in the "I don't give two fucks", "lost youth" sort of way.

She tried too hard to not try at all.

No one really knew when it happened, when she switched over from the little girl that loved princesses and smiling and was so damn smart that she skipped a grade to a girl who habitually cut classes and just skated by. It was a slow process, but most people couldn't remember a time when she was different. No one really cared enough to even try and remember.

Wearing a denim jacket over a tight fitted black bodice, a pair of black jeans and combat boots, she'd gotten off her plane back from London and stretched. Her family already far ahead of her, they all knew this airport like the back of their hands and didn't feel the need to stick together. It was a slow walk to the baggage claim, and she stopped a few times along the way. Once at mcdonalds and another to look at departing flights.

_Hawaii._ She thought. _Must be nice._ She added, promising herself to go one day.

The car ride home was even slower than waiting for her little green suitcase, because her mom decided, (since she'd be the new math teacher this semester) that she'd review algebra one. Which just frustrated the petite teen. In fact, she never even went into the house when they were home. She left her suitcase in the trunk and walked down the street to the Stilinski house settling on a day of video games before school started back up in the morning.

"Ha! Headshot!" Stiles laughed, looking over to his best friend with a wide smile for approval. She just focused on the game, annoyed that his score was higher than hers by only 20 and she couldn't seem to catch him. Mars had promised that she wasn't going to shut the system off if she was losing this time… it might've been a lie. She wasn't sure yet. "So how was your trip?" He questioned, glancing over at the brunette. Smiling yet again when he saw how concentrated she was and knowing that the scrunched up eyebrows meant she was about to rage quit- and if she did, he was going to get 20 bucks.

"Good." Mar continued looking at the screen while she shot at a swarm of zombies in Black Ops.

"Thats it? Good? thats all the details I get?" Mars glared at him, knowing exactly what he was doing. He was trying to get her talking, so she'd stop focusing on the game and she'd lose and she'd have to give him money. That wasn't gonna work this time though. "You can do better than that, Moss."

"You know, good old motherland. Reliable." She sighed. England was the same for as long as she could remember. Well, maybe not_ England_ but her family was. Same old countryside estate, same old grandparents, even London- though the people looked different, everything else seemed to stay the same. "What did you do over break anyhow, Stilinski? Get anything good for Christmas?" Mars changed the subject, she'd actually forgotten Christmas had happened when she was gone, it felt like forever ago even though it was only January 9th.

"I got new tires for the Jeep" He shrugged, spraying the zombies in front of him. "Mostly me and Scott just hung out. Would've been more fun with you here." They smiled at each other before looking back at Black Ops. "I'm sure you wankers enjoyed the guy time."

"Wait… you're… you're not a guy?" Mars bit the inside of her cheek and pursed her lips, nudging him on the rougher side. If it hadn't been for the sped up pace of the game he would've looked over at her and seen the pursed lips has turned into a smirk. Sometimes he forgot she had a gender… which is weird… but it made sense to him. Yanno, like, he'd just known her so long and was so used to her it was just like - she's Mars. Just Mars. A whole being in and of itself. And Mars felt the same way about him.

"So you mean to tell me, every year, nothing happens when you go to England." She rolled her eyes. They had this conversation every time she got back to the states, and she always said the same thing. 'It's fine' 'It was boring.' 'Eh.' The only time she'd ever had anything different to say was when the plane she was in went down last summer. It wasn't a Lost style crash and no one was hurt. Something had blown in the right engine during a ritual flight between JFK and Heathrow and the plane was forced into a crash landing. Granted, she still wasn't afraid of flying- statistically speaking, she rationalized that she was in the air so often it was bound to happen one day- in fact you could say she got a sort of sick thrill when her stomach lurched and the final announcement was made saying 'brace for impact'. It was the first time she felt like she was about to die and it was better than any drug.

Everyone around her was far more affected by the experience than she was. Her dad, Sayid (her only family member on the plane that time), wouldn't let go of her hand for hours and he kept putting off the flight home. When Mar did manage to convince him to get back on the air his hands shook before she placed her hands over his and gave him an Ativan, which took his mind off flying well enough. It was more focused on "Is my kid addicted to pills?!" But Mars was able to pull out some bullshit about buying it for the flight and how she was super nervous.

When they landed and got outside they were in a sea of people who surrounded and smothered them. They all cared so much, having everyone care felt nice and all but Mars didn't understand the concern- it wasn't like she'd died- or even had a scratch for that matter. Back to the original point, that was the only time she'd come back to Beacon Hills and said something new; and that was "Eventful"

"It's not as exciting as you seem to want it to be, Stiles."

"It's another country!" Stiles exclaimed

"Where everyone speaks English and I spent half my life in." Plus, she kinda sounded like them... half sounded like them? Her accent wasn't as much as her dads or her older brother, but she wasn't quite American either. She was in some weird middle ground a little closer to the American side, but with the slang and speech patterns of Brits. "It's like going from your house to mine or Scott's- no big deal."

"I guess?" Stiles agreed, Mars yelled at the screen when she ran out of ammo and was attacked. "Ha, I'm not reviving you." Stiles smiled.

"Don't be a dick." She glared, getting ready to take the controller from him.

Knowing her all too well he moved his arms away from her. "Too many zombies, if I try- I die"

"Come on just revive me before you get taken out." She argued.

"No." Zombies started surrounding the screen, it took less than a minute for him to get killed. She smirked and leaned back against the headboard. "Ha, told you that was gonna happen."

"I- Shut up." Stiles put the controller down and stretched. He'd won. But he also owed her 20 bucks. So he pulled out his wallet and put it in her open palm. She counted the stack of ones and shoved the green papers into her back pocket. "You do any of the reading?" He knew the answer, but thought asking might be nice. Only the AP classes were full year, and her mom, being a teacher, made Mars' schedule for her. And of course that meant she had homework over break.

"No." Mars decided to lay on her back and pick up a magazine off the nightstand, she opened it up without looking at the cover. "Well then" She noted, eyes glazing over the forms of naked women on the page. Stiles took it from out of her hands with an awkward laugh. "Seriously, you and Scott. Haven't you ever heard of the internet?"

"Ha. Ha." Stiles moved the porn onto his desk and sat in the chair. "So, you gonna do the plan this semester?" Stiles wiggled his eyebrows and bit his lip, leaning forward in his chair.

"_Your_ plan. And no." Mars and Lydia had been in all the same classes since they started elementary school. Every year since Stiles decided he had a crush on Lydia, he'd been trying to convince Mars to work with her on a group project, so that he could just drop by and she could go to get drinks or something and 'forget' about them so that he could put the moves on the stunning red head. Stiles started to pout. "Stiles, no."

"Don't you love me?" He questioned, she sat up and ran a hand through her dark curls.

"Not that much." There was no force on earth that could make her spend more than the school day with Martin.

"I-" Stiles pointed at her, the start of a smile twitching at the end of his lips. "Will pit you." Stiles threatened. 'Pitting' was his favorite thing to do when he wanted his way. It involved taking her face and shoving it in his sweaty armpit. It had made her physically sick on more than one occasion.

"And I'll kick your ass, twiggy." Stiles narrowed his eyes, challenging her. She could beat him without much effort at all, it wasn't a very difficult task, considering his lack of muscle. She wasn't muscular either, and she may have even been just as tiny, but she had this little thing called technique in her favor. Stiles looked her over, scanning her freckly face and waiting to pounce. Mars cocked an eyebrow over her heavily kohl lined eyes, and beckoned him to her with an index finger. Stiles winked, or twitched, Mars could never really tell the difference with all the adderall that kid took.

Stiles' dad opened the door and came in, "Hey, kids." Mars and Stiles waved half heartedly. "How was the flight?" Sheriff asked the kid who might as well of lived at his house, she even had a key. "Cramped. I had to sit between Ineas and Ahmir." Her big brother and little sister were definately characters. And, as a matter, Sheriff was Ahmir's godfather. A.j. was a goober, quite a bit like Stiles in a few ways but a little taller and skinnier with big bushy brown hair and slightly too big hazel eyes like his sisters blue ones. He tended to go off on philosophical rants and blast Garth Brooks in his pickup a little too loud. Ineas, though the cutest kid with the curliest hair in history, was evil. At least in Mars' eyes. Nay-nay loved to torture her older siblings, get them in trouble, that sort of thing. Long story short, being stuck in between her too loud brother and perfect little sister for 10 hours in a tight space was pretty low on her list of favorite things. "Gotcha." Sheriff decided not to inquire further. "I ordered Chinese food, Scott coming over?"

"He wants to get 'rested for practice' tomorrow" Stiles stated, a little annoyed. "He thinks he's gonna get first line."

"Sounds like a waste of a perfectly good night of greasy food and video games to me," Sheriff smiled, trying a hand at sarcasm. Considering that this was his son's and Mars' every single night. Mars noted his tone and gave a closed mouth smile before looking down at her chipping blue nailpolish and picking at it.

"Speaking of, Dad, you sure you should be eating-" Stiles started in on his issues with his dad's diet, so Sheriff cut him off before Stiles could start throwing around "well, the doctor says…"

"Don't worry, Stiles, it's just for you guys. I'm heading to the station in a few."

"Kay, Dad."

"Thanks, Sheriff. Did you get-" Mars started, Sheriff cut her off.

"Crab rangoon? Yes. And I _have_ a name, Marsi." Once he'd become Sheriff, which was ages ago now, she stopped using his name. It seemed like so much less fun.

"No one uses their real name these days." Mars reminded him, well, at least no one in this room did. Sheriffs real name wasn't so bad, but Mars and Stiles? Come on, their nicknames are _Mars _and _Stiles_. How bad would a first name have to be to constitute that?

Sheriff shook his head and started back for the door. "Moneys on the counter." He informed them, "Be safe guys"

"Can we have ten bucks to go buy-" Mars shot him one of those looks that said 'keep talking and I'll kill you'

"Keep dreaming, Stiles." Sheriff joked and with the shake of his head was heading back downstairs.

"Yanno, it's not totally unrealistic. I mean-" Again, with only the raise of an eyebrow, she silenced him. "Shut up."

The house phone rang once, then twice. Both of the friends pounced across the bed, wrestling for control of the device. Mars managed to get Stiles in a chokehold while she muted the microphone and raised the thing to her ears. When she let go of Stiles, he pressed his ear against the other side of the phone. "_The state is coming in." _The dispatch officer on the other line told Sheriff, and consequently, the two idiots eavesdropping. "_You said the body was in _half?" Sheriff Stilinski's voice came, Stiles and Mars gave each other excited, wide eyed looks. "_Yes, sir. In the woods a few miles from the Hale House- the joggers said it looked pretty bad._" Both Stiles and Mars' smiles were growing wider by the second, it was morbid- but they were ecstatic something was happening in this town. "_One more thing Sherriff, we can't seem to find the other half of the body."_ The pair high fived and hung up the phone.

"We're going." Mars informed him. "Lets go grab Scott."

"W-what about the chinese food." Mars rolled her eyes.

"Stiles." she put both of her hands, palms up, in front of him. "Dead body." she raised the right. "Greasy food." she lowered the left. "Dead body." She raised the right even higher and dropped the left lower. "Chinese food." She grabbed her jean jacket from the back of Stiles' chair and put it on. "Not much of a contest, mate."

They waited for Sheriffs car to leave the driveway before trekking outside, leaving money on the mat for the delivery guy.

* * *

"We're seriously doing this?!" Scott exclaimed, lagging quite a ways behind Stiles and Mar. Unlike Stiles she slowed her pace whenever she took notice, but it wasn't very often. "You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town." Stiles remarked.

"You do too." Mars reminded Stiles, hell, she complained right along with them. He bitched just as much, if not more than Scott did.

Stiles shrugged and continued up the hill. "I was trying to-" Scott started.

"Get a good nights sleep for practice?" Mars cut him off and raised an eyebrow, sometimes she thought maybe she should stop cutting people off. Every once and a while she even put in the effort, but it continued with no avail."So you said. Is practice really more important than quality time with your two best friends?" She taunted. "Besides, you're both just gonna be benched again anyways."

"No. I'm playing first line this year." Scott tried to convince them. It wasn't that he was a bad player, he was good- he was just a lot smaller than everyone else, and his severe asthma didn't help. Mars wasn't trying to be mean… but someone had to tell him.

Stiles of course came in with his ironic sense of humor. "Hey, that's the spirit. Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one." Mars smacked him with the back of her hand.

"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?" Scott questioned, Stiles and Mars exchanged looks.

"Huh! I didn't even think about that." Stiles remarked.

Mars turned back to face Scott and wait for him. "I guess we'll know it when we find it?" After thinking about it for a moment, just finding a pair of legs would be weird. "I hope it's the top half." She remarked with a scrunched up nose as Scott caught up.

"And did either of you think that the killer is still out here?" _Oh Scott, always such a worrier._

"Also something I didn't think about." Stiles laughed a little to himself, seemingly unworried. The thought had crossed Mars' mind in the car, but she figured 3 on 1 odds would work in their favor.

"It's comforting to know you've planned this out with your usual attention to detail."

"I know."

"Stiles!" Mars grabbed the back of Stiles' shirt and pulled him down below the top of the hill, catching a glimpse of the blue and red lights turning.

"Yes?" He smiled.

"Cops. You guys wait here." She commanded standing up and brushing off her jeans.

Stiles' face lit up. "Ha! I love when it's your turn." Mars hated when it was her turn to take the fall, but it was only fair. You'd think maybe they would stop doing stupid and incriminating things, but that would be so much less fun for the trio of adrenaline junkies.

Mars glared at him for his comment, but it didn't deter him. "Shut up you tit." She mumbled while emerging from the trees and stuffing her hands into her back pockets. It took a minute for anyone to notice her, as always when she _was_ noticed she was greeted with a pair of eyes looking her up and down. She gave Deputy Marks a smirk and a wink, he smiled and scratched the back of his head. Another, newer deputy greeted her with a gun, pointing it at her. She raised her hands with a sigh. "Hold it right there!"

Sheriff came over, stepping into the scene. "I'm afraid I know this little delinquent." _Right on cue. _She thought.

"Oi there, Sheriff, lovely night." Sheriff took a deep breath in and closed his eyes, he should have known that they'd turn up here.

"You've got 10 seconds to explain why you're not at the house." He gave her a chance to talk her way out of trouble, something she was usually quite good at.

"What? Can't a girl go out in the woods for a stroll?" She defended, cocking her head to the side to move her hair out of her eye, then winking at Deputy Marks a second time upon noticing the stare. Sheriff took note and stepped in front of her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Not tonight, no. Have you been drinking?" His brows pushed together.

"Not this time," She noted.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear that." He attempted to file it away in his mind, along with a whole lot of other things that she'd done and said. "Where's Stiles?"

"Not here." Sheriff crossed his arms, he didn't believe her. Not in the slightest. For one, they'd been together only an hour ago. Two, finding one, without the other two was like striking water in the Sahara. And finally three, he knew it was her turn, Stiles was the one found at the last crime scene.

"Mars, I wasn't born yesterday."

"I can see that." It slipped before she could stop herself, and his slightly taken aback look guilted her. "Ugh, get out here you wanker!" She shouted back into the clearing she'd come from. They were caught, might as well quit while ahead.

Stiles walked over to them with a nasty case of the jitters and waving energetically to bystanders like he'd done no wrong. "So," Sheriff started, looking between what he considered to be his kids the majority of the time. "Do you listen to all my phone calls?"

"No, heh. Not the boring ones." Stiles laughed, waiting for a reaction he wasn't gonna get.

"Now, where's number three?"

"Who? Scott? No, he's home getting some sleep for practice tomorrow. It's just us. In the woods. Alone. At night." Stiles squinted a little after he'd said it. Playing back his words when he looked at his dad's face. "You know I see where that could potentially sound bad."

"You should really let me do the talking, Stiles." Mars muttered, shaking her head, trying to figure out why in the hell of it all she still talked to this kid.

"Scott, you out there? Scott?" Sheriff called out into the woods, when Scott didn't follow them out, Sheriff- even though he knew the kid was out there- let it slide. "Well, children, I'm gonna walk you back to the car. And we're gonna have a conversation about something called invasion of privacy."

Sheriff clapped a hand on each of their shoulders and started walking them back to the Jeep. Mars questioned; "Is that _really _necessary?"

"Unfortunately yes, Moss."

"Ya know, the way I see it is if there is a murder running around- that information should be public. Am I right, Stiles?" Mars side eyed the boy. Trying to make her point.

"So right it hurts." Stiles agreed, turning to his dad when they reached his Jeep.

"See, Sheriff." Mars continued. "Plus… yanno, we're only trying to speed up the process in helping you to find part two!" It was a weak defense, but better than nothing in her eyes.

"I can see your record growing bigger the more and more you talk." Sheriff remarked. "You two tampered with _another _crime scene." He was nearing his wits end, he could only do so much more with the department. Not to mention trying to get the trio- especially the two with the very questionable moral compass- out of trouble. "Do you want me fired?"

"No of course not." Stiles chimed in. "We love you."

Sheriff ignored the comment, because it was the 'I love you' that meant 'we're excused.' "I don't want to have to write either of you up. One more misdemeanor and you're in hot water, Mars." He reminded her, despite his best efforts, there were some things he just couldn't get her out of. Like flying high as a kite and getting fined with possession of illicit drugs (thankfully it was California), and on another occasion getting cited for driving without a license. Thankfully, Stiles hadn't been caught doing anything illegal just yet- but it was really only a matter of time. "Just go home for now, we'll finish this talk later." Sheriff concluded before catching Mars' arm. "And I will be calling your parents." He didn't want to. At all. No one wanted to deal with the wrath of her mum, Mary, but he realized it was better to come from him than through the grapevine.

"I think they've stopped caring." Mars noted, eyes growing a little sad for a moment before jumping into Stiles' Jeep.

She was wrong, they definitely still cared.

"What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?!" Mary shouted, Mars sat upright in the living room chair with her legs crossed. She so desperately wanted out of this place it wasn't even funny anymore. Sometimes she thought she hated her mom, and then she'd remind herself that Mary could kick it, like Claudia had, and she couldn't bring herself to use the word hate. One thing was for sure, Mars sure as hell didn't like Mary."I just don't understand what goes through your head, kid." The mother shook her head, annoyed with her daughters lack of facial expression. "I could deal with the constant detention, I can deal with the possession charges, I can deal with you being a shit student. Want to know what I can't deal with, _Marit_?" Mary used Mars' middle name that was much prefered to the unpronounceable first. "I can't deal with my kid running out in the woods late at night with a fucking _murderer_ on the loose!" Mars knew that she wasn't being completely irrational. When it was put like that, it _did _sound pretty bloody stupid- but it didn't feel that way at the time. "Do you know what people are saying about you?" Mary exasperated.

Wasn't a mother supposed to be proud of their children? Mary looked over her middle child. She was the only one that looked like her really at all. Her other two looked like their dad with caramel colored skin and curls, but not Mars. No, Mars had Mary's blue eyes and the same nose. Granted, she was paler and had more freckles and her hair was a few shades darker but there was no denying the relation. You could hardly see her dad's half-egyptian side at all. It upset Mary just to look at her, such a pretty girl ruining her beautiful eyes with all that makeup, dressing the way she did. Today was a conservative day and the bodice top still showed off a little bit of her stomach.

Mars leaned back, stretching her arms out on the arms of the chair and leaning back. "Enlighten me."

"Cut the attitude!" Mary shouted, Mars noticed Nay-nay poking her head out down the stairs, followed by A.j. not too long after.

"Can I go to bed now, mother?" Mars cocked a brow, not wanting her siblings to have to deal with the shouting.

"_No!_" Mary screeched and raised a hand to hold her head "Fucking fuck, kid"

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop yelling." Mars looked at her little sister, who was smiling a little and her brother who was giving Mars a sympathetic look.

Before Mary could stop herself, she snapped. "And I'd appreciate it if I could swap you out for someone else." Mars looked as if she'd just been slapped. It wasn't the first time Mary had said something like that to her, but Mar recovered quickly, moving to her feet and grabbing the weekender she kept in the shoe cupboard. Even Ineas stopped smiling and sat down on the steps, it wasn't all fun and games anymore. "Mars, shit, I'm sorry."

"No, Mum, you're not." Mars put her jean jacket back on and put her school bag on her back before returning the stocked weekender to her right arm. "I'm out of here." Mars informed her mother and walked straight out the front door.

"Mars, get back here!" Mary tried, "We can talk about this!"

"FUCK YOU!" Mars cried and slammed the door behind her before beginning the short trek to the Stilinski home. She tried to brush her mother off unsuccessfully. When she got to her destination she took the key off her necklace and went inside. It was late and she didn't want to wake anyone who was in. With the lights off she locked the door and went into the kitchen, taking off her boots and jacket and put down her bags. Remembering a few hours ago, she grabbed a glass of water and the box of crab rangoon from the bag in the fridge. She used a paper towel to wipe off the traces of her smeared eyeliner and beads of water from her face, then decided to put her hair up into a high ponytail. She needed to occupy herself, do something thoughtless. So she decided to do the dishes. Because one, she always helped around the house with chores and things or else nothing would get done, and two- they started to smell funny and pile up while she was overseas. When she was done, she made her way to the couch at an agonizingly slow pace, stepping one foot in front of the other, thinking deeply about all the reasons she needed to change herself before deciding that maybe it was other people who should change. She sat down, and then she lied down, looking at the dining room table that was covered in Sheriff's paperwork and some week old coffee. She fell asleep, thinking to herself _I'll vacuum in the morning._

A few hours later, at around 2 a.m. Sheriff came home overly stressed out about this new case. They were unable to find the other half of this girl and they'd have to make an announcement sooner than later. He sure as hell was looking forward to his four hours of sleep. He caught a glimpse of Mars green bag and went to the linen closet, grabbing her a spare pillow and neatly folded blanket before walking over to the couch he knew she'd be on. It's where she always was when there was trouble at home. He laid the blanket over her and placed the pillow under her head as gently as he could. He still remembered the day she was born, Claudia was more happy than Mary about it. His wife had been so excited, bouncing in the room with a 10 month old Stiles on her hip and a two year old A.j. wadling to come meet his new little sister. Even though Claudia never said it, Sheriff knew the reason she was so excited was because her best friend just had a daughter, and she had a slightly older son and it couldn't have been more like one of her books. Claud and Mars had been so close when she was alive, "Ce ce" as Mars would call her, was the one to braid her hair and take her to the park with Stiles and helped her through her first boy crisis… Sheriff turned the ring on his finger, he didn't want to think about Claudia right now.

Upon going to leave, he felt a small hand grab his. When he turned around he was met with a small smile. "Thank you." She mumbled, blinking heavily, finding it a little hard to keep her eyes open.

"Your Mom?" Sheriff suggested, not really needing the confirmation she gave him with her nod of the head. "Are you okay?" The nod turned into a shake, she saw no point in lying about it. He'd know anyways.

"Was she always like she is now?" Mars propped herself up on her elbow, a little surprised she'd never asked before. Sheriff sat on the edge of the couch and pondered it.

"No. In fact, she used to be like you." Sheriff thought back to those days in college, when Mary was a free spirit and loved a good time and wanted to travel the world and see exotic places. Things used to be so different, it was amazing how much could change in the blink of an eye.

"Then why does she hate me?" Mars asked with glassy eyes. Teenagers acted out all the time. It was supposed to make parents try and reel them in, to give a fuck about the kids well being instead of their own reputation. Her mom should want to _help _her. Sayid was too busy with work to even know what was going on in his eldest daughters life. He'd caught glimpses of it on family vacations, when she would disappear and come back, or when Mars and his wife would fight… but he didn't know what to do about it. So he just did nothing.

It hurt Sheriff to hear that this _child_ believed her mother didn't love her. "She doesn't hate you, Mars."

"Yes she does, she's said it." Mars informed him. She never said much about those arguments with her mom. She'd just kind of show up and clean a bit every once and a while. He couldn't believe Mary would say something like that to her own blood, it just didn't seem like the woman he knew, she wouldn't put that on a teenager. She knew better; at least he hoped she did.

He didn't know how to respond to what he'd been told. At all. So he decided to let it be until he could say something proper and let her know what she'd learned when she was given a key. "You're always welcome here, kiddo." Sheriff knew it said a lot that Mars wore the key around her neck instead of on her keychain that would just get tossed into her purse. It hung beside a crescent moon pendant of her paternal grandmother's. It told him that she cared about it, that she didn't want to lose that key, it told him that his house was what she considered home.

"Hey sheriff?" The blue eyed girl asked when she saw him going to get up. "Yeah?" He replied.

Something her mom had said was eating at her. "What… what do people say about me?" She asked, it didn't sound very good.

"Wouldn't know, I don't listen to it." Sheriff assured her. Granted he had on occasion, sometimes that was unavoidable at the station, she'd had more than one complaint come in. Most of the time it was the Butler family mother, who had convinced herself that Mars was stealing away her only son and bringing him to the dark side. Saying that the little tramp needed to have a stern talking to from the authorities, she was also the one to tip them off that Mars had drugs on her. Any other complaint was about noise at parties she just so happened to get herself stuck in.

"Why not?" Mars asked, looking him over. "Mom does."

"Because I'm more concerned with the girl than the legend." He answered, making her laugh a little, her slightly uneven teeth showing.

"Thanks." She nodded, moving her arm out from beneath her and laying back down.

"Get some rest, kid." Sheriff suggested, tucking the blanket into the couch out of habit, even though he knew they'd get ripped out overnight. "And promise you'll attend every class tomorrow."

"I promise." Mars held out her pinky finger, which he took. "Night, Sheriff"

"Mars, Its-"

"Sheriff." She insisted, giving him one of her looks that told him she would not be swayed.

"Sure, yeah, it's Sheriff." He shook his head, giving in, and kissed her forehead. "Sleep tight, kiddo."

"You too." She half smiled, pulling the blanket up above her shoulders and getting comfortable, already taking out the tucking of the blankets.


	2. You're No God

**Beast of Burden**

**Chapter Two**

**You're No God**

* * *

"_The only way to deal with an unfree world_

_is to become so absolutely free_

_that your very existence is an act of rebellion."_

_-Albert Camus_

Mars glanced down at her phone's clock before pounding on the bathroom door. "Stiles, hurry up!" It was going on the half hour he'd spent in there. "Come on, I need to shower." The toilet flushed and the sink turned on before he emerged in his towel.

"Calm down, Moss." He waved his hand in front of his face, scrunching up his nose for a second and smiled. "Have fun with that one," He remarked and headed down the hall. Trying her best not to vomit at the stench her so called friend left behind, she sprayed the air with some lysol and dropped her weekender on the soaking wet counter. She would never understand how he made such a mess, he didn't even have much hair. Just the little bit on his head, a small tuft on his chest and a happy trail that he was supremely proud of. Of course he had hair in _other_ places too, but she didn't quite like to think about that. Okay, maybe he was hairy- but none of it was on top of his head. She plugged her IPod into its speaker, putting it on shuffle to hear Ke$ha's _Tik Tok _on a minimal volume before stripping down and jumping into the shower.

Knowing she was running low on time it was a quick one. When she got out she actually skipped out any trace of makeup and did a pretty half ass job of blow drying her hair. The moon pendant and house key she always wore made their way back around her neck, then came the undergarments and then a red plaid short sleeve shift dress that would be _way _too short if she even thought of bending over. Turned out she hadn't re-packed this bag since summer and she was running low on options. She took her reliable worn-in chucks and stuck them on her feet over socks, put on her leather wrap bracelet and threw any mess she made back into the bag before tucking it under the sink. Lastly, she put on the same denim jacket that she'd worn the day before.

Back downstairs, Stiles and Sheriff sat at the table looking over papers. Mars grabbed Stiles' baseball cap and put it on top of her head, turning it backwards and grabbed an apple. "Took you long enough." Stiles remarked, taking a bite of his Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich.

"Sorry I didn't need to let out the content of my stomach." She bit into the apple, leaving it in her mouth while she put her backpack on. She bit off the chunk and used the top of Stiles' head as an elbow rest. "You ready to go?" She asked him.

"Nah." He joked before getting a prompt look from his dad. "Yeah, I meant yeah."

He stood up, making Mars lose her balance slightly. Stiles made a beeline for the door, forgetting his backpack but holding onto his sandwich. Mars grabbed his bag for him and grabbed a cup of coffee. "Hang on, what're you wearing?" Sheriff looked at her for the first time this morning.

"A dress?" Mars replied, giving a slight curtsy.

"Thats supposed to be a dress?" He repeated, looking at it again before shaking his head. "Go change." Mars raised an eyebrow. "I can't let you go out like that, you're going to freeze." He explained. Mars smiled, a real genuine smile where her teeth actually showed. Sheriff didn't say "Cover up" "Put some clothes on" or "You look like a ho.", he'd said she was going to be cold- unlike her real parents who would've said any of the previously mentioned. So yeah, she smiled, in a way only a few people could make her, because they cared.

"I've got some leggings in my gym locker." She acknowledged. "I'll be fine."

In response, Sheriff went back to his paperwork and took a sip of his coffee. Mars followed Stiles out to the Jeep. "Forgot your bag, mate." She threw it in the back and pulled herself in. Stiles put his sandwich in her hand so he could start the car up, she took a bite and then he leaned over and took it back using his mouth. "Scott call last night?" Stiles nodded, "And did he make it home okay?"

"Yeah." Stiles shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and started talking with his mouth full. "Said he got bit by something." Sadly, Mars understood what he was saying.

"What's _something._" Suddenly feeling guilty for leaving Scott alone in the woods, she felt an overwhelming need to know exactly what had happened and exactly how she could help.

"_Somfin_" Stiles mocked her accent, a stupid grin on his face until he felt how utterly unentertained she really was with him in the form of a fist wailing against his arm. "Do not hit the driver!"

"You're being a sodding idiot! I'm being serious, now, is Scott alright?" She repeated.

"_Sodding idiot_." He mocked, "Yeah. He's fine. Lighten up Moss." Stiles frowned, rubbing the spot she'd punched.

"I'll lighten up when you smarten up, Stilinski."

"Are you kidding? You don't get any smarter than this- I'm like," He paused, searching for the most ridiculous claim he could make. "A god. Yeah, I'm like a god!" He beamed, stopping at a red light.

"You're no god." Mars put her feet on the dashboard and cracked her knuckles.

"Yes I am." He stuck to his guns.

Deciding to just play along, Mars said in a very melodramatic tone; "Oh great Stiles, won't you ever forgive my ignorance!" Raising a hand to her forehead and looking away momentarily.

"I suppose I shall be merciful on this fine morning, but strike me again- and tomorrow you will not see." Anyone could see Stiles pause, backpedal, make sure that came out right and then nod when he decided it was.

"This is getting ridiculous now." Mars stated, Stiles agreed. "What classes did you get?" Mars reached across the clutch and into his pocket where she saw the reddish toned paper folded up and sticking out of his pocket.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to take?" Stiles smiled, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Nah, Mum never taught me much of anything." She looked down it, guessing Scott was going to have mostly the same classes, and based off that logic, the trio was going to have Algebra II, Chem, and Econ together. "Have you even looked at this yet?"

"I looked at first period." Stiles stated proudly, "English, with Curtis, right?"

"Congrats, your memory seems to be intact." Mars looked over it one more time, looked like they'd share a lunch too.

"What book are you guys reading?" Curtis was always one to send out the course reading list once he had his roster, and there was no reason for this semester to be any different than the rest.

"_Kaftaka's Metamorphosis_" Stiles attempted, butchering the _Kafka_ part of the title, "Ever heard of it?"

"Yeah, this dude Gregor gets turned into a bug and then his family is all 'oh no' and doesn't want bug-man around. So bug-man just goes to his room and dies, the family is happy about it and fires the cleaning lady." Mars ended, replaying her words in her head like Stiles had done just a little bit ago. "Wow. That was a bad summary… read the book."

"...yeah, don't count on that."

"You're in my mom's math class with me." She put the schedule back in his pocket and threw the half eaten apple out the window.

"_Wonderful._" Sarcasm, as always, being Stiles' only defense, took over.

"Hey, at least she likes you."

"Get out of my car." Stiles demanded, when he looked to the side for the first time since her feet got raised to the dash, he felt his heart race a little. Her dress had slid up a ways and its hem was nearly at her hipbone, it looked like those legs were gonna go on for miles. "T-that's nice." He commented.

"Close your mouth." Mars rolled her eyes and jumped out of the car, her little smirk just as present as it always had been and likely always would be. Even if it was only Stiles, she was still a bit flattered. She always enjoyed men's attention. "See you after English!" She winked and walked off to go get her leggings, although, it wasn't all that cold.

Scott came up behind Stiles and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "When- when did that happen?" Stiles asked, dumbfounded, staring after the rear end of his childhood friend. "How- how did that happen?" He rephrased.

"Stiles. No." Scott laughed and led Stiles towards the school.

"Where ya off to Moss?" Mars heard a voice come from behind her, making her turn around. A tan guy, with some adorable dimples and black hair that just so happened to be her very first ex boyfriend turned gay stood before her.

"Danny! Hey" They shared a quick hug. "You know, just grabbing some tights from the locker room."

"Heard you and the Stilinski kid crashed a murder scene last night." _How the hell do people already know about that?_ She asked herself. Word spread so fast around Beacon Hills it was actually getting slightly frightening. "Any fun?"

"Nah, we didn't see anything." She pouted, still a little bitter over not getting to see anything cool before they'd been forced to fess up "Oh well."

"Looking good, Moss." Jackson Whittemore was the next to join the two. Mars always had this theory, that Jackson and Danny had a thing. Jackson was horrible to pretty much anybody and everybody except Danny. Unwilling to accept that Jackson just simply enjoyed Danny's presence, she came to the conclusion that Jackson, no matter what he said about Lydia, was in some degree of love with his gay best friend. "You should take the top off too." Jackson wiggled his eyebrows and bit his lip.

"That's what I like to call overcompensation." Mars taunted, making Danny laugh even after he got the death glare from Jackson.

"I'm not even going to justify you with a response this time, Moss." Jackson snapped.

Labels weren't exactly Mars' thing. Not on relationships at least. For some reason the very thought of having a boyfriend irked her. Even though she hated the title, she did have something similar to a 'relationship' with one guy, Don Butler. Remember that one lady? Mrs. Butler that always complained about Mars to the police and managed to get her arrested? Yeah, her son. They'd been an on and off sort of very private, secret, hush hush thing. He was handsome enough- bright green eyes, dark brown (probably a little too long, seeing as he could tuck it behind his ears) hair, quite a few freckles, a strong jaw, and he was built rather nicely. Yet, even though he was very likely the epitome of physical attractiveness for her, she had no desire to date him. Not officially. Not in public. He came over, making the group of three now four with his lacrosse stick on his bag like the rest of the team. "Mars, what do you say we meet up after Coach's class?" She looked him up, biting her lip and personally liking the way he didn't beat around the bush.

"Will you call off your Mum?"

"I'll do my best, yeah." He agreed. Danny and Jackson, as always, knew about the situation, seeing as they were Don's Scott and Stiles equivalents.

"Okay then, see you in Coach's class." She agreed and decided not to entertain them any longer. She walked across campus to the locker room, grabbing her leggings. Remembering seeing girls wearing things about the same length, she decided to forget wearing anything under. It had to be almost 60 degrees outside, plus, she'd be inside most of the day. Besides, she didn't mind the attention in the slightest. Just in case, she shoved the black leggings in her backpack and went to go to class. "Scott, wait up!" Mars shouted when she caught a glimpse of the black hair and lacrosse stick.

"Mars, hey." Scott smiled, they walked together till they reached their lockers, which were conveniently located almost beside each other, hers being just one to the left and one down. She squatted down and unlocked it.

"How're you doing with the whole bite thing?" She looked up, shoving some books in it. "Do you feel okay? Did your mom check it out?" Concern was evident in her voice. It was totally her fault he got hurt, or that's what she convinced herself.

"What would I tell my mom?" Scott closed his locker and looked down to her, he'd thought about asking his mom to check it out- she was a nurse after all and it looked pretty gnarly, but he couldn't figure out how to ask without getting grounded into the next century.

"That your two asshole friends dragged you out of your warm safe bed and forced you to participate in illegal activities and left you for dead?" Mars stood up and linked her arm with his before they started walking again. Standing still wasn't a forte. "Just put it on us, you won't get in trouble."

"I'll be fine."

"You need to make sure it's not infected, Scott." She stressed.

"I'll go to the nurse later." Scott stopped and turned her to face him, a slightly sideways grin on his face. "...It was the top half."

"You found it?!" She'd nearly shouted, eyes lighting up. "Thats so cool!"

"You're demented." Scott shook his head

"Did it smell, like, really bad?!" It was weird that she was a little jealous of Scotts adventure, and it was highly irrational that she so desperately wished she could have switched places with him. The whole idea of the mini adventure appealed to her greatly.

"Of all the things you ask, you ask about the _smell._" Scott rolled his eyes, he was surprised Stiles hadn't asked the same question.

"Did it?" She repeated.

"Bad, very bad." Scott finally answered before the bell rang. "I'll see you after class."

The A.P. English kids in the first block class didn't waste any time, they all immediately took their seats from the previous semester, which were alphabetical. Mars found her way to her seat slowly, trickling a little after the rest and taking her spot next to Lydia, just like every year. Martin and Moss tended to be the only two M's in every class. Even though they didn't waste eachothers time in the hallway or outside of school, they were relatively well acquainted and even though neither was the others biggest fan, they did share a sort of mutual respect when it came down to it. "Nice dress." Lydia commented when Mars sat down, Mars nodded as thanks.

"Your hair looks nice." Mars returned the compliment, Lydia's hair always looked nice. Like, goddess nice. If they hadn't known each other since first grade, Mars would've thought her hair was fake. Well, if not fake at the _very _least that it was dyed.

"Thanks." Lydia accepted. "I'm surprised you're here."

"Made a promise to the Sheriff." Mars explained and took out her copy of _Beloved_ by Toni Morrison. She wasn't quite sure how it was allowed in school but the less that was banned the happier she was.

"Gotcha." Lydia understood. Over years of observance, Lydia knew how much she respected Sheriff, and history told her that Mars wasn't exactly one to go back on her word. "You read the book?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty beautiful. Scary, but beautiful." She'd told most people who'd asked that she didn't do the reading. In most peoples minds, she never did the reading. Mars didn't quite understand why people believed her because honestly, how did they expect her to pass the tests if she didn't read the book? Homework- that she never even touched, but language and words were beautiful- why would she reject that?

Mars didn't ever feel like she needed to lie to Lydia because even if they weren't friends, they knew things about each other that most people didn't. For example, Mars knew that Lydia was without a doubt the smartest person anyone would ever meet and that she just plays up the stupid so that people would like her. When Lydia's parents had filed for divorce, Mars was the only person Lydia told. And Lydia knew about Mars' home life, and she also knew Mars had a tendency to pretend that she cared about nothing when really all she was doing was trying to piss off her mom enough for Mary to tell her the truth. What the truth was, well, Mars wasn't so sure- but she did know she wanted to know what her mom's problem was.

"I agree." Lydia skimmed over her annotations.

"Hows Jackson?" Mars inquired, doing the same.

"He's good, lacrosse is starting so he's happy." Lydia explained "Hows Don?"

"Dunno." Mars chuckled, she didn't think she'd ever once asked him how he was, but she was pretty sure that Don had never asked her either.

"Thats healthy." Lydia commented.

"Eh."

"Martin. Moss." Mr. Riggs caught their attention, making them look up from their books. "Anything you care to discuss with the rest of the class?"

"Nothing you'd want to hear, sir." Mars informed him. "Just small talk."

"Save it for after class." Riggs went back to the blackboard.

"You got it." Mars saluted.

* * *

"See you in Chem." Lydia waved and started off down the hall after english class.

"See ya." Mars replied turning in the direction of her locker, Stiles waited for her only a few feet away.

"See, I just don't understand! You won't do the plan, but you guys don't hate each other, what's the problem?" He urged an answer from her, his mouth hanging open slightly and his hands tugging on the straps of his backpack.

"Two very dominant personalities on one two-person project wouldn't be good for anyone involved, mate." Mars tried to explain. Stiles looked as if he didn't comprehend a word of what she'd just said.

"So what's the problem?" He kept that same expression until his arm shot into the air, waving at Mars' big brother. "Hey, A.j.!"

Ahmir stopped and walked over to the pair, high fiving the guy. "Sup, mate?!" He greeted, just as overly enthusiastic as Stiles was. "Little sis." He nodded.

"A.j." Mars returned the gesture.

"This feels very tense." Stiles noted, taking a backwards step. Yet he didn't leave the siblings all together."I think I'm just gonna back away."

"Mom was crying." A.j. informed Mars, he wasn't particularly fond of Mary either, but he did want Mars to know the effect she was having everytime she stormed out. Neither mother or daughter was right, Mars shouldn't have snuck out and Mary shouldn't have said she didn't want Mars, again, on both parties.

"Good." Mars crossed her arms over her chest.

"_Mars._" A.j. stressed.

"She's being a bitch." Mars cursed. "Did dad even notice I was gone?"

"Not really." A.j. answered honestly. Mars was pretty sure he didn't even know how to lie.

"Shocker." Mars rolled her eyes, completely fed up with both of the ass holes that gave her life.

"Mom cares."

"Yeah well, I don't want to talk about it, why don't we just pretend like it never happened and you go back to being the goof of a big brother I know and love." When Ahmir got serious, it made everyone uncomfortable.

"You might want to put some trousers on before mom's class." A.j. smiled, going back to chewing on his sweaters drawstring. He did it all too often, it was one weird habit.

"What fun would that be?" Mars' smirk returned.

A.j. ignored her. "I'll see you around, Stiles."

"See ya, A.j." Stiles waved, Ahmir was a cool guy. "That was unpleasant." Stiles remarked, as they head to her mom's classroom. Don passed by walking in the opposite direction and he winked at her when he caught her eye, she turned her head as he passed. Coach's class was certainly going to be fun. "Did I miss something? You and Butler? He and Jackson have been the very bane of my existence for 8 years now." Stiles was more than confused, and it was written all over his face. He _would_ be the last one to know, he was almost always last when it came to that stuff.

"Don't worry about it, Stiles."

"Don't move to the dark side." He warned, half serious, half joking.

"I promise I won't move to the darkside." Mars swore.

"You willing to spit shake on it?" She sighed heavily, pinki swears would never be enough for Stiles. Without word, she spat in her hand, Stiles did the same in his and they shook on it. "Good." He nodded.

"That is still so disgusting." She muttered and wiped her hand on his sweater and took some hand sanitizer out of her bag, offering him some.

"Nah I'm good." He just wiped his hands on his pants, Mars scrunched up her nose. Just when she'd started to gain faith in boys, Stiles violently tore it down- a special skill of his. They went into class, still chit chatting a bit and took seats beside each other. Mary avoided any and all eye contact with Mars, she wasn't at all over last night. She wrote on the blackboard before the bell rang, _Dr. Moss, Algebra II_ "Hello class, I am Dr. Moss, not Mrs. I paid a lot of money to be able to call myself a doctor." She began her introduction, clearing her throat. "Anyhow, I know this is a required class and that half of you are aiming for a C. So, I guess I'll say a few things about myself. I'm from Beacon Hills, educated at Stanford. I have three kids, one of whom many of you know." Mary pointed to Mars who was slouching far into her seat. It wasn't out of embarrassment, more laziness than anything.

"Dude your mom's a milf." A boy behind her leaned forward to say. Stiles stifled a laugh, Mars turned around and claimed; "I'll chop your dick off if you say it again."

"She's got an attitude problem, as you can clearly see." Mars glared heavily up at her mother, Stiles waved- he really didn't want on her bad side. "Yeah, hi Stiles." Mary waved him off. "I guarantee she's not going to get any special treatment from me, she'll probably fail along with the rest of you who think it's okay to cut my class. Let that be your warning." Mars clenched her jaw and her fist. Mary didn't mean for things to come out as they did, it just kind of… slipped?

"So, lets go around the class, everyone can say a few things, Stiles, why don't you start. Say your name and three interesting facts about yourself." Mary shifted the focus away from herself.

Stiles stood up and waved, his eyes twitched a little bit before he started speaking. "Sup, I'm Stiles. Obviously. Uh. I'm on the lacrosse team, even though I'm mostly benched. Thats not that interesting- does that count Aunt Mary- I mean Dr. Moss." He questioned, cursing himself under his breath.

"Yeah, Stiles. That's fine." Mary answered with a smile, not at all annoyed. Looking at him was like looking at Claudia, and _fuck_ did she miss that woman.

"Kay. Cool. Um my dad's the town's sheriff. and uh…" He looked around the room, hoping something might tip him off to something else to say."Mars here is a good friend of mine." He sat down quickly, first days were the worst. They all knew each other anyways.

"Lovely, Mars, it's your turn."

"Got that, Mum." Mars stood up, eyeing her mum for a second before turning and leaning against the table. "My name is Mars Moss. Lets see, interesting facts." Mars held out a finger to represent the number 1. "One, I've been arrested twice now." Mary's eyes narrowed, drilling holes into the back of Mars' head. "Oh, sorry, I guess I wasn't supposed to mention that one." Mars turned around making a face of mock apology before holding out another finger. "Two, I'm not wearing pants. For those of you who've never had the pleasure of English programing, pants mean panties." She smirked a little more even though it was a lie, but making good ol' Mummy squirm was just too irresistible. "Guess she doesn't like that one either." She turned around, fake biting her nails. "And three, if you couldn't tell, I'm English on the weekends." She went with one not cringe worthy 'fact'. "Is that sufficient mother?" Mars smirked, and god did Mary hate that fucking smirk.

"Sit. Down." Dr. Moss seethed. "I'll be keeping you after school."

"Or, you know, I could just see you at home. Where we live." Mars sat,making eye contact with her mum on the way down. "Fine, I'll see you in detention." She agreed, making a few members of class laugh.

* * *

Don's skin still burned where she'd kissed his collar bone. It wasn't very glamorous. They were in a cramped old office where no one came in anymore, they were sweaty,and the room reeked of it. Mars connected her lips with Don's again, her hand running through his hair that she frankly thought was better than her own. Don's fingertips grazed her bare back, before it got heated, Mars pulled away. "Last time." She stated, their eyes locking together.

"You keep saying that." Don didn't want this to be the last time they hooked up, and he knew with their track record- it wasn't going to be. Mars slid off the desk, consequently against him, and shook out her hair before leaning over to the side and grabbing Stiles' hat, putting it back on the way she had it before. Maybe it was the look on her face when she did it, but it rubbed him the wrong way. The look she gave him so often that he could sense it before it even came said 'this means nothing to me'. He could only describe it as mischievous and cocky- and he wasn't even sure that those were the right words. It wasn't that their whole… situation, if thats what you want to call it, meant the world to him- but it meant at least more than nothing. "You seeing that dweeb?" Don pointed to the hat, pulling his trousers up from his ankles and fastening his belt.

"Who? Stiles?" He nodded, watching her put her undergarments back on, then that dress that had been driving him crazy all day long. "You think I'd be in here with you if I was with Stiles?" Again, something about the way she said it rubbed him the wrong way.

"You never know." He played it off, shrugging, and pulling his shirt back on.

"The answer is no. If I was with Stiles, I'd only be with Stiles." She confessed, she didn't mean just Stiles, she meant in general- if she was going to be committed to a person, she'd be committed. The thought of cheating irked her. "Besides, he's not that dweeby." She defended her lifelong friend.

"Whatever you say." He agreed, grabbing her by the arm when she went for the door and turning her around. He kissed her, rather passionately. His forearm pulled her middle against him and his open hand cupped her face. It felt like he was trying to prove something. "See you on the field?" He asked her, on the quiet side.

"No, my loving mother has decided that I deserve detention. So. Yeah." He knew next to nothing about her, sometimes he forgot that. Then she would say something like that, and he'd be reminded that he didn't even know any of her siblings names. It worked both ways though, she didn't know anything about him either.

"Harsh." He agreed.

"So, I'll go first." She informed him, her hand on the door handle. He nodded and she left, going right for the bathroom to wash her hands and fix anything that had gotten messed up. She hadn't been wearing makeup, so it wasn't so bad. Mostly just the hair.

It didn't take very long for Scott to find her once she left the restroom and now that school was over. "Mars, I need a favor." Scott rushed, before leaning against some lockers. "See that girl over there?" He pointed to a pale girl with black hair and dimples that was stunningly beautiful, Mars had seen her a few times that day and knew she was a new girl. It was typically pretty obvious if someone was in Beacon Hills. "Her names Allison, and you're going to go ask her to hang out with us on Friday." Scott was never really very assertive, so Mars was reasonably skeptical.

"What? Why me?" She questioned, not _opposed_ to the idea but she also wasn't fond of the idea of an intrusion of her, Scott and Stiles' video game night.

"You left me in the woods to die." He reminded her. "I think that's all the information you're going to need." Mars narrowed her eyes, but agreed. This was really Stiles' idea, but for once it was actually a decent one.

Mars walked over to Allisons locker. "Hey, Allison, right?" She grabbed the girls attention.

"Yeah." Allison closed her locker and smiled.

"I'm Mars." She greeted. "Nice to meet you."

"You too." They stood there awkwardly for a minute, Mars wasn't entirely sure how this was supposed to go, or if Scott had even talked to this girl before. Mars looked back over at Scott, who urged her using his eyes. He really had to like this chick to be cashing in a favor. Not that he didn't have several more with how much BS she put him through.

Mars cleared her throat. "So, I didn't know if you made any friends yet- which sounds a lot worse coming out of my mouth than it did in my head. But anyways me and my friends-" She pointed behind herself at Scott who waved timidly, and Stiles, who was talking to Macy and being slightly twitcher and over expressive than normal. Mars figured he was talking about Lydia. Allison couldn't help but wonder if she was pointing to the right group, because they didn't look like they would hang out together. At all. Back in San Francisco she could usually tell who associated with who, but maybe it was different here? She couldn't tell yet. "Were wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime? Maybe Friday night?" Mars suggested. Allison smiled, getting ready to agree after she'd seen Scott, but Lydia came over in all her shining glory and cut Allison's answer short.

"That jacket is absolutely killer. Where'd you get it?" Lydia questioned.

Allison looked down and answered; "My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco."

"And you are my new best friend." Lydia turned to Mars, "Sorry." Making Mars raise an eyebrow, so they were best friends now? That was news to Mars. Jackson seemed to appear from nowhere. "Hey, Jackson." Lydia greeted her long time boyfriend.

"So, this weekend, there's a party." Lyd informed Allison, clearly, Lydia wanted the new girl in her group.

"A party?"

"Yeah–Friday night. You should come." Jackson added, throwing his arm around Lyd. "Mars, you're coming, right?"

"Oh, I'm invited?" Mars feigned surprise. She knew it would come next with the whole charade going on. Game night definitely wasn't going to be on anymore. Not when there was gonna be pills, booze and sex. The boys would kill her for rejecting the invitation anyways.

"What would a party be without the infamous Mars Moss." Jackson insinuated, Mars liked the ring it had _'infamous'_.

"I guess, yeah. Sure. I'll try to make it." Mars agreed and leaned back against the lockers. "Allison?"

"Uh, I can't. It's family night this Friday. Thanks for asking." Allison looked over at Mars for a second, and Allison knew the strange girl knew that she was lying even without saying anything. Never had she seen a pair of such expressive eyes, it was almost a little frightening. Allison could see her relax and tune out the conversation. Mars closed her eyes and it looked almost like she was swaying.

"Well, I was going to–" Was the first thing Mars heard after she'd been tuning life out. She did that sometimes, the whole zoning thing.

"Perfect–You're coming." Lydia told Allison.

"You never really had a choice" Mars entered the conversation again.

"I got that impression." Allison laughed. "Are you going to come to the practice?"

"No, I can't. My mom-" Mars started, remembering her 'detention' that was really just an excuse for her mum to hold her hostage for a lecture.

"Oh don't be a baby, Moss." Lydia hooked arms with her and started to pull her down the hallway. "Come to practice!"

"I- whatever." Rejecting any sort of suggestion of Martin's would without fail prove futile. So she just gave in, she wasn't exactly looking forward to her moms presence anyhow.

* * *

Practice was abnormal. Scott, weak, asthmatic, scrawny Scott was playing _amazingly_. Everyone in the stands had been brought to their feet by at least one of the saves. "Go Scott!" Mars shouted over everyone else, Scott smiled, even though she couldn't see it through his helmet. Maybe now some of these other people would know his name now.

"Mars!" Mary had finally found her daughter, she was walking too fast and her spike heels were sinking into the grass.

"Bollocks" Mars cursed, looking to the left where she saw Mary struggling to reach her.

"Mars, my classroom. Now." Mary demanded with her teeth clenched. Lydia pretended like she heard nothing and continued chatting with a slightly confused Allison who was looking between the Moss woman that looked a little too much alike. The connection her math teacher was Mars' mom hadn't quite sunk in until then.

"Fine, yeah, whatever." Mars kicked her legs around behind her, grabbing the bars below the next row up and jumped down, there were too many people to try and get through so it seemed like the better of her options. Mary had already begun to head back, Mars trailed behind begrudgingly until her mum stopped short and turned around when they reached the schools back entrance.

"I want this conversation to be civil." Mary started.

"Me too." Mars agreed.

"Why did you blow me off?"

"Because I'm tired of getting yelled at." Mars stressed, throwing her arms out to her sides."I'm just tired, Mummy."

"And you think I'm not?" Mary challenged.

"No, that's not what I'm trying to say." Mars sighed, this is why she didn't like to talk to Mary, everything was always misconstrued.

Crossing her arms Mary asked; "What _are_ you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to tell you that I can't talk to you" She confessed, there wasn't any yelling yet, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Well then we're on the same page." Mary agreed.

"Evidently."

"How was your night?"

"Fine. Slept well."

"That's good." There was awkward silence on both ends for a few moments. "Will you be coming home tonight?"

"Scott and Stiles wanted to go look for Scott's inhaler, thought I might join them."

"No."

"No?" Mars raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because I don't believe you" Mary replied, attempting a shred of honesty. There was no way she spent every waking moment with the same two boys. In fact, Mary was convinced that should she allow Mars to go, she would only just go and get high and pregnant."You spend too much time with them."

"Well, I'm sorry that I try and fill my time with people I like?" Though Marys suspicions weren't entirely unjustified, they were wrong. Yes, Mars liked to do activities that weren't exactly… ethical or age appropriate, but 9/10 times, she really was with those two.

"What kind of example are you setting for your sister?"

"Mum. Nay can make her own choices." Mars commented. "Her well-being doesn't hinge on whether or not I decide to come home after school."

Mary shook her head. "I'm trying my very hardest not to yell at you right now." Mars widened her eyes, _what did she do now?_ "I want you home in two hours." Mary didn't give her the option. "Go with Scott and Stiles if you have to, but you _will_ be home for dinner. Got it?"

"And what if I just leave?" Mars threatened, getting in her mothers face. Mary looked around, giving her daughter a death glare- this was her place of work.

"You're embarrassing me." Mary spat.

"No one is around!" Mars threw her arms out my her sides a second time.

Mary crossed her arms over her chest, avoiding the incredulous look her daughter was giving her. "Look, you do what you think is right." Knowing she couldn't stop Mars no matter what she did, Mary just decided to let her do whatever she wanted. She was beyond done with this bullshit.

Mars stayed calm, "Careful what you wish for." Without another word or expression of any sort, she walked away. She didn't know where she was going, or if she was going to go home in the near future, but she did know she wanted to be as far away from this place as possible. It must have been miles she went before she looked at her phone:

From: McCall

_Where are you?_

From: Little Stilinski

_Dude, can't find you, its been 10 minutes, we're gonna head out soon_

From: Don Butler

_That looked tense, you good babe?_

From: Big A.J.

_I'll talk to her_

From: Lydia Martin

_Hey Mars, just wondering if you wanted to hang out with me tonight? Just girls?-Lydia_

To: McCall

**I don't know, I'll call you later.**

To: Little Stilinski

**Did you find Scott's inhaler? Sorry for bouncing.**

To: Don Butler

**Yeah, I'm good**

To: Big A.J.

**Don't worry about it, thanks though.**

To:Lydia Martin

**Its actually really bad timing right now, I can't tonight.**

Mars managed to make it home before her two hours was up, exactly a minute before, which she considered to be an impressive feat. Everyone was already home except Sayid when she got there. Nay was quiet for the most part, she just waved as Mars walked to her door through the kitchen, A.J. had his door open, he was listening to Tim McGraw and playing waste basket basketball.

Her bedroom door was locked as it always was, so she pulled a pin out of her pocket and picked the lock having long since lost the key. Thankfully, only the cat could get in and out because of the little cat door she put in with babysitting money. She'd had her cat since she was 5, he was an old and fat tabby cat named The Doctor, but for the most part, she just called him Doc. He stared a lot, rather than doing normal cat things… whatever that means.

The room had been the same for six years now, the same burgundy walls and Breakfast at Tiffany's poster. Which; she'd actually never seen, she just thought Hepburn was beautiful. The floor was cherry hardwood and it was covered with a fluffy white toss rug and a tan papasan chair that her darling Doc had claimed his own. The desk in the corner doubled as a vanity with a trifold mirror sitting on top of it and her bar had a ruffly white comforter, sheets to match the walls and one too many pillows. The only two things that had changed were the growing number of prints and polaroids being haphazardly tacked to the walls and her old violin collecting more and more dust.

"What's up, Doc?" She asked the giant cat, picking him up from her chair and bringing him over to her bed. She planted a kiss on his head. Her cell buzzed again.

From: Lydia Martin

_What about Friday, after the Scrimmage, before the party? You can help with prep._

To: Lydia Martin

**Sounds great, do I need to bring anything?**

"I'm confused, Doctor." Mars started, she'd been thinking about her threat to her mother for hours. "Can you tell me what to do?" _Meow._ "Is that a no?" The cat was silent "Is that a yes?" _Meow _"Should I go for good? Pack up my closet and hit the road?" Again, there was silence. "You want me to stay so you can stay fat, don't you?" _Meow. _"You're a little shit." _Meow._

Family dinner was just as strained as it always was, from the outside normal but if anyone looked through the curtains they could see how much everyone couldn't stand each other. The sideways glances, the half ass attempts at conversation, it was no wonder Mars locked everyone out. Anywhere but home she took her time getting from point A to point B, but not here. The second she took care of the dishes she bolted back into her room, locking the door behind her as always.

Books were kept under her bed in storage bins, the room itself wasn't very big so she didn't have the space for a bookshelf. Anyhow, she opened one of the boxes and pulled out the first book she saw. This time it was _In Cold Blood_ by Truman Capote.

Too bad she didn't get to start it after she'd made herself comfortable. "It's been a while since you've done that one." She commented, nonchalant as Stiles pulled himself through the window and toppled to the ground.

"I'm just glad your rooms on the first floor." He pushed himself off and patted down his sweater to make sure everything was in tact.

Mars rolled her eyes, her book still opened up on her lap. "Did you need something?"

"No, not really. Scott's working and I'm bored." Stiles opened up the first drawer of her dresser, moving the T-shirts to the side and grabbing a snickers from the candy stash.

"So you came to Alcatraz?" Mars dog-eared the page.

Stiles shrugged laying down on his back opposite of her, he saw her phone flashing-

_**1 new message**_

_**Lydia Martin**_

-across the screen and he shot up. "Woah. Hold up. You're texting _Lydia? _And she's responding? Like _The _Lydia. _My_ Lydia?"

"Give me back my phone." Mars held out her hand, Stiles pouted and placed it back in her palm.

"What does she want?" Stiles questioned a little louder than necessary.

"To hang out?" Mars guessed "I think she just wants me to get alcohol."

From: Lydia Martin

_No, you don't need to. _

"Or not?" Mars added to her prior comment. "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure she wants something."

"Or she thinks your friend is adorable and wants you to hook a sister up?" Stiles sounded like he was joking, but they both knew he wasn't joking at all.

"Sure Stiles, I'm sure thats it." She laid down in her sea of pillows, Stiles cracked open the candy bar and laid down beside her, taking too big of a bite. "So did you find the inhaler?" Mars asked him, looking up at the ceiling.

"You'll never guess who had it. Derek Hale." He answered, still chewing.

"He's the really fit one, aye?"

"When" Stiles swallowed what he could. "When did you ever see him?"

"My brothers yearbook. He was a senior when A.j. was a freshman." She explained, opening up the book in her hands again.

"Ah." Stiles continued eating, he was always eating.

"So why did Derek have the inhaler?"

"I guess it was on his property. He's kinda intimidating." Something in Stiles voice was a little off, maybe it was intrigue? She couldn't quite place the tone.

"Do you fancy him?" Mars took the next logical jump to a conclusion.

"What? No, I don't _fancy_ him. You- you weirdo." Stiles shook his head and changed the subject. "Dad asked about you."

"Yeah?" Mars read a little of the page. "What about?"

"Wanted to know if you were staying the night again." Stiles put the snickers wrapper on the nightstand and put his hands behind his head.

"Oh. No. I guess not. My mom thinks its weird, wants me to stop hanging around you and Scott so much." Mars sighed. "She thinks I'm lying about where I am."

"Unfortunately you're not." Stiles agreed. "Are you gonna hook me up with Lydia?" Mars knew it was only a matter of time before Stiles went back to Lydia, it was surprising he'd gone so long without dropping her name after she'd been mentioned.

"Sure, Stiles. As soon as she breaks it off with Jackson, why not." Stiles smiled and took his hat she'd stolen off her head and put it on his.

"Today is a good day."

Mars couldn't focus on her book with him in the same room, she decided to try and nap instead. Curling herself into him, she laid her head on his chest. He put his arm around her shoulders. "I wish you didn't smell so weird." Mars commented, scrunching up her nose.

"I smell like a man." Stiles grinned picking up her book and flipping through it before remembering he didn't particularly like reading.

"No, you smell like you didn't shower after practice and just put on a clean shirt." Mars closed her eyes anyways.

"Guilty."

"You're nasty." She shook her head, moderately relaxed.

"I try." He paused, tossing the book to the side. "So you and that Butler kid?"

"Stiles, can't you see I'm trying to sleep?" Her eyes were still closed.

"Oh. Okay." Stiles noted, he really was pretty curious about it, he'd overheard Jackson and Don in the locker room saying some… things he wasn't supposed to hear. Frankly, Stiles hears everything. "Am I comfortable?" He asked, saving the conversation for later.

"When you're not talking." Mars mumbled, starting to drift.

"Gotcha." The cat climbed up to Sit on Stiles, just below Mars' head. "Hey Doc." Stiles pet Doc on the head before picking up the only framed picture in the whole room. It was of him, Mars, Scott and his Mom at the San Diego Zoo. He remembered it well even though it was nine years ago. Mars was missing three teeth in it with one about halfway back in, Stiles was missing two and Claudia had just pulled out Scott's first loose tooth. Mary had taken the picture, or so he recalled. Stiles traced his thumb over his mom's face and gave a sad smile."She really was beautiful." Mars opened her eyes, he was speaking in the past tense and that only ever meant one thing.

"Yeah she was." Mars agreed, she always forgot to put the picture away when Stiles was over, ,it only ever made him sad. And her happy go lucky, hyperactive, twitchy Stiles wasn't supposed to be sad. Ever. Not when it was in her power, the longest week of her life had been the week after Claudia died, and she _never, __**never**_could see him like that again

"I miss her, a lot." Stiles bit the inside of his cheek, Mars leaned up and kissed the outside of it, hugging a little tighter to his side. "You miss her too?" Mars nodded. "Just got some dust in my eye there." Stiles laughed and rubbed his eyes. Mars took the frame out of his hand and leaned over him, placing it face down on the nightstand. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Mars smiled, both of them fell asleep not long after.

* * *

"So, why'd you invite me over?" Mars asked Lydia as she tapped the keg Jackson had so kindly (or forcibly) brought out to the pool for them.

"I felt like it." Lydia answered, sitting like a princess in the shade. Mars was more than slightly annoyed that it seemed she was doing all of the work.

"Well, we've been in the same classes since kindergarden and this is a first." Mars reminded her. Seriously though. This was _the first time_ they had ever intentionally seen each other outside of class.

"My mom thinks I need more girlfriends. You and Allison seem to be the most tolerable." Lydia lied, Mars bought it.

"Thanks, I guess?" Mars squinted her eyes in the sun.

"Besides, your best friends with the new best player in town." Lydia added to her prior statement.

"There it is." Mars commented, sitting beside Lydia and grabbing a wine cooler. She cracked it open with her keychain and took a drink. "So this is about Scott." It wasn't a question.

"Huh. That's his name?"

"Yeah, but I'm guessing you knew that already?" Lydia should know by now that Mars wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of buying the stupid act. "Wanna go for a swim?" Sitting around was boring and preparing was irritating. She wanted to do something fun.

"No."

"Fair enough." Mars downed a bit more of the cooler.

"Is that what you're wearing?" Lydia looked her classmate over, black skinny jeans, a black halter, a blue flannel tied around her waist and a pair of black heeled boots wasn't quite going to cut it for one of her parties. Her hair was in braided pigtails. _Pigtails. _

"Yes?" Mars arched an eyebrow, she didn't see any problem with it.

"You're boobs are smaller than mine, but I'm sure something will fit." Lydia stood up and began to walk into her house, Mars finished off her bottle. "Well come on." Lydia turned around and gestured for Mars to follow. Which she did, but she took her own sweet time doing it. Lyd ended up picking out a long sleeve emerald colored dress with a _plunging _V-neck and a short hem. "See, I could never pull that off." Lydia smiled and retreated back into her closet to find something for herself. It was a bit of a double sided compliment considering Lydia was essentially telling Mars she had small tits. Mars let her hair down and shook it out.

When the sun finally retreated and the moon came up, people started piling in, Don being one of the firsts. He found Mars, Lydia, and Jackson in the kitchen and greeted Mars with a kiss on the cheek. Mars' brows knit together _what was with the sudden PDA?_ She wasn't enjoying herself yet, she wasn't nearly as fucked up as she wanted to be."So, double date?" Lydia suggested when she saw Don, who's face said he was about to agree.

"Uh. Date?" Mars put her empty cup down on the counter. "No." She shook her head. "Don and I, we're not dating." She clarified.

"Thats not what he says." Jackson raised his beer to his lip, smirking.

"And what does he say?" Don was looking his friend, making one of those _dude, stop talking_ sort of faces.

"That you're hot as hell and he would very much like to take you on a date." Don attempted recovery, it should've worked- it would have worked with most other girls. But not Mars.

"Great. But no thank you." She poured herself a couple shots "Single suits me fine." Mars moved into the newly forming crowd, taking her shots while she walked. "Stiles!" She yelled when she spotted him about twenty minutes later. Almost the whole lacrosse team was around him. Mars reached the group and took a spot between Stiles and Danny, kissing both of their cheeks. "Have you guys had anything to drink?" She offered to grab something for them, not thinking to look and see if they had anything in their hands, which they did.

"I'm sure not as much as you." Watson got into the conversation. To be honest she didn't know his first name… Ryan? Dylan? she was pretty sure there was a "Y" in there someplace.

"That sounds like a personal problem." Mars replied, winking at him. "How long have you guys been here?"

"Half hour I think" Danny answered.

"Blimey, how'd I miss you lot?"

"What've you been doing?" Stiles asked her.

"Listening to Lydia falling completely off her trolley, oh and watched this one daft girl fall arse over tit! It was brilliant." Everyone looked at her confused.

"...what?" The team said collectively.

"Bloody hell."

Stiles sighs. "Allow me to translate for you guys. She listened to Lydia's descent into insanity and watched some stupid girl fall on her face. it was cool."

"Why didn't you just say that?"

"I did." Mars noted taking Stiles drink from his hand.

"I should not have understood a word of that." Stiles took his drink back from her.

"Probably not." She agreed. "Where's Scott and Allison?" Stiles pointed to the crowd, the new couple was dancing closely, it was really… cute? Well the idea of it was, the dancing itself wasn't that cute, more hot.

"You wanna dance?" A voice came from behind her and a hand met her waist, Mars and Stiles turned around at the same time- Stiles thought the invitation had been for him.

"Sure" Mars grabbed the man's hand, he was tall, dark and handsome and he pulled off that whole mysterious thing. Her head was a little too cloudy to make any connections.

"Derek?!" Stiles glared. "No, she doesn't want to dance." Stiled held her other hand which she pulled away from.

"Oh, Derek!" Mars looked him up and down, recalling their conversation the night before. Age did him well. "You grew up nice." She started walking to the floor with him despite Stiles voice behind them asking 'what are you doing here' and cursing 'shit'. Derek knew exactly what he was doing, he always knew exactly what he was doing. Derek dancing looked a bit odd, he was too stoic to be doing so. But hey, he was hot and he smelled miles better than the sweaty high school boys she was used to. Mars made eye contact with Scott and waved, not a care in the world. She had no reason at all to be wary of him.

Scott saw Derek and tried to focus back on Allison but it was hard with his building anger. _What was Derek doing?_ _Why was he here?_ Mars saw him freaking out and running back into the house, that sobered her up real fast. "Sorry, I gotta go." She told Derek. "It's been fun." She assured him before chasing after Scott.

He was long gone.


	3. Blackouts are a Bitch

**Beast of Burden**

**Chapter Three**

**Blackouts are a Bitch**

* * *

"_Nearly all men can stand adversity,_

_but if you want to test a man's _

_character, give him power."_

_-Abraham Lincoln_

Slivers of sunlight made their way through the curtains, shining patterns on the ruffled comforter. The body tucked between the sheets was going in and out of sleep, laying in a pool of drool she wasn't yet conscious enough to realize was there. Her phone was on low volume, but the ringtone sounded like a police siren in her ear when it started going off, then the cat decided to start nudging her. Frankly, this whole waking up thing was becoming highly unpleasant too quickly. Mars hit the glowing green button and then the speaker before putting it down and closing her eyes again. "What?" She mumbled into the pillow.

"Hey, are you home?" Stiles' voice came over the speaker, she wanted to hush him for being too loud. Instead, she looked around the room she'd fallen asleep in.

The cat and the burgundy walls were enough to convince her it was her room. Unfortunately, she had no clue how or when she'd gotten there.. "Yeah, I guess." She answered, pulling the covers over her head.

"How'd you get there?" Stiles questioned. Last night had been a mess with everything that went on with Scott, he'd had to pick the kid up on the side of the road an hour ago.

"I rode my magic carpet." She mumbled, not wanting to think. It was too early and she was too hungover.

Stiles sighed. "Seriously Mars, I feel bad for ditching you."

"I'm sure I was fine. I don't even remember you ditching." She confessed, pulling Doc into her chest and petting the fat tabby. Besides, he hadn't really ditched considering that she hadn't gone there with him.

"What do you _mean_ you don't remember?" He sounded astonished as he was. Which was, like, a lot.

"I don't know, last night was weird." She kissed her cat.

"Did you take something?" Mars' nasty habit of taking anything anyone put in front of her concerned him. A lot. Especially because she never asked any questions. She'd had Ambien, Desoxyn, Ativan, OxyContin, Adderall- and that was only the prescription shit. He honestly didn't want to think of the ecstasy, MDMA and self popped rohypnol he'd heard about through the grapevine. Yeah, she was always the life of the party, but that didn't mean she was okay.

"I don't know. Probably, it's not a big deal." She wanted to hang up, bored now.

He repeated; "Do you remember anything?"

"I remember Scott freaking out… I think I may have been in the woods at some point…" Mars drifted, blanking on the rest. "Vaguely." In other words, '_yeah, I've got no clue._' "Can I call you later, mate?"

"T-the Preserve? Why were you on The Preserve? Was Derek with you?" Stiles asked frantically, leaving her to question his concern with The Preserve.

"If I remembered, I'd tell you." She reminded him. "And who? Hale? I've never even met him." She shook her head, why the hell did Stiles think she'd been with Derek?

Stiles made some noises that sounded like he was having more than a little trouble forming words. "You danced with him _last night._" He nearly squeaked.

"I probably danced with a lot of people last night." Mentally adding, _maybe more than that._ "You can't expect me to remember the one." She rolled her eyes, thinking back. In fact, she didn't remember dancing with anybody.

"You'd remember." Mars heard fumbling just outside her room. "Damnit unlock your window." Mars got up begrudgingly and opened the window for him. He hoisted his bony self up in, stumbling, but not falling this time around and hung up the phone, tucking it back in his pocket. Mars laid right back down and rolled onto her stomach, pulling the blankets over her head. Stiles yanked the comforter off. "No, no, up. We're talking."

"Stiles, why are you yelling?" She whispered.

"I'm not yelling." Stiles lowered his voice and scratched the back of his neck. "Come on, I need to talk to you." He stressed and sat beside her, she still wasn't going to sit up anytime soon. "Think, why were you in The Preserve." He encouraged.

"I think I wanted to go swimming, I don't remember." She blew him off.

"There's a pool at Lydia's." Stiles shot down her logic.

"What are you? My dad?"

"Yes." He joked, then shook her, "Come _on_ it's important."

"Why is it important, Stiles?"

"For reasons. Was Derek with you?"

"I already told you, I don't remember meeting Derek." She knew that Stiles was persistent, but that didn't keep her from getting annoyed with him.

"How- how." He began to question before realizing it would be best to just not ask questions. "Nevermind. Just think."

"I was alone," She recalled. "I definitely went in the lake. Happy?"

"How do you know?"

"I don't remember anyone and I smell like lake water. Satisfactory?" She snapped.

"Yeah, whatever." Stiles glanced down at his phone like he was waiting for something. The past couple day's had just been strange with Scott getting bitten and storming out of the party. Not to mention the overwhelming feeling Stiles was giving her that he knew something she didn't.

"What is going on with you and Scott?" Mars asked on the calm side, but her frustration evident.

Stiles opened his mouth to speak and squinted a little bit as he stopped himself. "Nothing, it's… nothing." He settled on, knowing all too well she wasn't gonna buy into that- but was he supposed to do? Just out and say 'Guess what? Scott's a werewolf now.' Yeah, he wasn't feeling like that would go over too well.

"You can talk to me, whatever it is." She assured him, scanning his overly expressive face for hints. She'd softened her voice, knowing that was usually how she got her way.

Stiles squinted a little again and started tapping his foot on the ground. "I know."

"Alright then, so what is it?" Stiles looked at her again, she smiled, with her teeth.

Stiles stood up, knowing all too well that if he stayed he was gonna let the cat out of the bag. "I'll talk to you later." He made a break for the window.

"You woke me up, you're talking now." Mars didn't bother to get up, she just looked at him and he made the mistake of turning around to see her doing it. "_Stiles."_

"Look, just let me talk to Scott, okay?" He reasoned.

Mars' mouth dropped slightly. "Are you kidding me right now? Please tell me you're kidding."

"I just-" He attempted.

"You just what, Stiles? Huh? What, all of the sudden you guys are keeping secrets from me? What the_ fuck_?" She cursed, looking him over. "Is it something to do with last night? Did I say something?" Mars scanned her memory for some clue that wasn't there. This wasn't about her.

"No, it's- yeah. Just, don't worry about it." Stiles stumbled over his words, but that was nothing out of the ordinary.

"... don't worry about it?" Mars repeated, cocking an eyebrow and nodding slowly. "Seriously? That's all you got?" She shook her head and let out a small, bitter laugh. "Fuck you, man."

"_**Mars**_" Stiles stressed, but she wasn't about to let him get a word in after that. Secrets didn't sit well, at least not when he was keeping them from her.

"Window." She pointed, her voice taking on a calmer tone, Stiles hesitated, but decided he should just go before he fucked anything up further.

After he left, Mars tried to sleep with no avail. It was no use anyways, once she was up she was up. So she stood, and she stretched her arms above her head and extended them behind her back. She peeled off her dress from the night before and let it fall to the ground, replacing it with a fluffy light green bathrobe and slipping a pair of slippers on her feet. She walked to the bathroom and washed off any and all traces of makeup and brushed her teeth, then she headed downstairs for a much needed cup of tea. "Hey Daddy." She greeted the man sitting at the counter with his face masked behind the morning paper. He lowered it to look at her and smiled before folding up the paper and putting it down. Mars hadn't seen him at all since they'd gotten back from his parents.

Sayid was a handsome man in his late 40's, black hair, hazel eyes and a dark complexion. He was a brilliant cardiac surgeon, too. "Morning Darling, I put a kettle on." He informed his eldest daughter. "You want a cuppa?" He questioned. Where Mars' accent was somewhere between England and California, her Cambridge born and bred fathers was the same as it had been for his entire life, never wavering unless he was speaking to his mother. In which case, they were speaking Arabic, so it didn't really matter.

"Yeah, I'd love some." She smiled, taking a seat beside her father and glancing at the headline. It was about that body in the woods. She cursed the thing, everything was just fine until they went looking for it.

"How's school?" Sayid inquired, he was never good at talking to Mars. A.j. he could handle, cars, politics, philosophy, college. It was never hard to talk to his boy. Ineas was easy, too. She was the princess, they didn't have to talk, he just had to buy her things and she'd be happy. Marsi, though? It was like he didn't know her at all. In fact, he couldn't even understand her until she was four. All the therapists they'd taken her to gave her speech impediment some fancy name, idioglossia, if he recalled correctly. They said it was the result of being in a multi-lingual household, but he didn't quite buy it. Because when she _did_ finally speak English, it was coherent. Of course, she stumbled a bit at first, but it seemed as though that little language of her own didn't exist anymore outside of the Stilinski boy.

Sayid recalled anytime Stiles' tried to translate for her how angry Mars would get. "**Nola, jul S**!" She would say, which he eventually figured out meant "_No, just Stiles_." Back to the original point, Mars had always been the difficult one. Always.

"It's okay." Mars answered his inquiry about the hell she was forced to sit in everyday. "I like English. That count?"She'd always loved english though, so no, that really wasn't a surprise.

"No." He laughed, he meant attendance wise, but he didn't feel like clarifying. "How was the party?" Mars cleared her throat, she hadn't known Sayid knew about it.

"Uh… Good. Loads of fun." She lied, or maybe she didn't… her memories of last night were shot straight to hell at this point.

"Good to hear." Sayid got up as the kettle whistled, grabbing two mugs from the cupboard, one blue, one yellow. He poured the water and looked at all the different bags in front of him, dropping an english breakfast in both. He was pretty sure that was what she drank, he dropped a sugar cube in it for good measure. He put the yellow mug in her hands and cupped her face, looking at her big blue eyes. "So beautiful," he commented and kissed her forehead.

"Thanks, Da." She smiled and took a sip, nearly spitting it out. Partially because it was too hot and also because she'd been expecting earl grey black. "Where's everybody?" She tried to mask her distaste.

"Mum and Nay went shopping, and A.j. is… somewhere, work maybe." He blew it off, mostly because he was just guessing.

"He works nights, Dad." Mars pointed out, Sayid went back to his paper.

"Oh, maybe with a girlfriend then." He tried, he was seeing that one girl last he checked.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend." Mars sighed, knowing her dad worked too much to really know much of anything, but what frustrated her even more was the note witting right in front of her. "He went to the station with Sheriff, wants to help out." Mars slapped the note down over the newspaper.

"Ah, I can't read that chicken scratch." Sayid brushed the note off.

Mars stood up with her mug in front of her, silent for a moment. "You want to watch a movie?" She offered.

"Yeah, I've only got a couple hours though." He agreed.

"What's in a couple hours?" She asked. "It's your day off, Dad." Mars' brows knit together creating a series of lines on her freckly forehead.

"I've got meetings." He looked at her, feigning frustration. Mars bit the inside of her cheek. He wasn't lying to her because he didn't want to spend time with her, he was lying to her because he didn't want to deal with his wife when she got home. He wanted to be long gone for the night by then.

"Oh… well, okay I guess."

"Go put something in, I'll be over in a second." He got up and grabbed a jiffypop, the Moss family didn't do microwaves as per the request of his darling wife Mary. "This isn't gonna be a chick flick is it?"

"Nay is the one who watches chick flicks, Dad." Mars responded, a twinge of sadness in her voice, first he gave her Nay's drink and now that. She was slowly remembering why she shut herself in her room for in the first place. "Is V for vendetta okay?"

"Remember, remember the fifth of November." Sayid smiled, moving the popcorn's container around on the stovetop.

"The gunpowder treason and plot," Mars exaggerated her accent to sound more like her fathers.

"I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason-"

"Should ever be forgot." Mars finished the little saying with a smile before her dad focused on the little tray beginning to heat up.

* * *

Allison took her math book out of her locker, getting ready to go to class. "You liking it here so far?" Mars asked, eyes following all of the students passing by.

"Well it's interesting." Allison acknowledged, not having formed a real opinion yet. She really liked Scott though, that much was for sure… even if he did ditch her. Stiles stopped at Scott's locker to talk to him across the hall from Allison and Mars, he was avoiding eye contact at all costs, urging Scott out of the hallway.

"What was that about?" Allison closed her locker and leaned against them like Mars was, people watching. Mars looked over her shoulder.

"Nothing important." Mars dismissed, giving a small smirk that was supposed to be a smile. "So, did Scott talk to you yet?"

Allison looked down, a smile on her face and nodded. "Yeah, he did, actually."

"And what did you say?" Mars pressed, hoping it was a yes so that she wasn't making new friends for nothing.

"I'll give him a second chance." Allison confirmed, still having the same smile plastered on her face.

"Does that mean you'll still be at game night Friday?" Mars reminded her. To be honest, they'd both forgotten about her invite entirely.

"I guess? I mean, do you want me to be?" Allison pulled her books into her chest.

"Well I don't see why not" Mars didn't feel any need to retract her invitation, overall, she really did like Snow White.

"Yeah, of course" Ally nodded. "I mean, is there still going to be a game night? That seemed… kinda tense." She referred to that little avoidance she'd bore witness too just a minute ago.

Mars shook her head. "He'll crack sooner than later, he always does."

"What do you want him to tell you?"

"I don't know just yet. Hoping its nothing too bad. He's such a bloody tosser." Mars ran a hand through her hair.

"I've been meaning to ask you, are you from here or from…" Allison didn't want to seem rude by messing up England and Australia, so she just led the answer.

"England." Mars smiled. "I was born over there."

"Then why are you here?" It slipped before she could stop herself.

"Long story short, my Mum wanted to be in the states, dad wanted to be in England and they split it up so we didn't have to move. So school years in Beacon Hills and holidays in Oxford."

"That actually cleared a lot up." More kids passed through the hallways, people watching was always entertaining.

"What about you? You said you moved a lot?" Mars turned the conversation on the new girl, not really in much of mood to talk about herself.

"Yeah, my dad, its just kinda what he does. Never more than a year." Allison sighed and bit the inside of her lip.

"You sound kind of bummed by that." Moss observed.

"Yeah, I mean, being rooted somewhere, being close with someone like you, Stiles and Scott are- I wish I had something like that." Allison confessed.

Mars stopped leaning and pulled Allisons shoulders off so she stood straight. "Oi, chin up. I promise, as long as you're here you can count on us." Despite Mars' imposing nature, Allison smiled widely. "Good. Well, mother's class awaits." Mars nodded and began to head off down the hallway with the warning bell.

"Hey, Mars?" Allison called after her, Mars turned back.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing Wednesday?" Allison paused, looking to gage some sort of reaction. "I'm busy tomorrow but what do you say we hang out after school Wednesday? No boys?"

"Sounds great." Mars smiled, surprising Allison at the sight of her teeth. Not that they were bad or anything, she just hadn't seen a genuine smile from that girl until then. But Mars was excited by the offer, to have a break from all of the people she was so familiar with. She almost couldn't remember why she'd been wary of Allison in the first place.

"Cool." Allison nodded. "Well, don't get detention again."

"I make no promises." Mars promptly turned on her heel and headed towards her mothers classroom and then the next class, laughing to herself whenever she'd see Stiles run off in the opposite direction. He may have won the battle, but she was dominating the war.

Without Scott and Stiles distracting her at every turn, her day was just boring, just running through the motions even to the end of the day and after school. Don had sent her a message before practice, telling her to meet him on the preserve afterwards in their spot. So she did, because what else did she have to do?

So now, Mars sat straddling Don, who was busy kissing her neck while she reached around her jeans pockets looking for a lighter. She let the destroyed denim fall out of her hands and pulled away from Don, "You got a light, mate?" She asked, he nodded, pulling it out of his backpacks top pocket. She put the blunt in her mouth just before he lit it. She took a drag, closing her eyes then removing it from between her lips, letting the smoke out through her nose. Don replaced it with his own lips, Mars didn't return the kiss. He ran a hand up her bare side until it hit her bra.

"So, getting friendly with the new girl?" He asked her, she put the blunt in his mouth and he took a hit.

"She's genuine." Mars ran a hand down his chest and smoked a little more. "I like genuine people."

"I guess, yeah." He agreed, eyes going over her and kissing her again when he had the chance. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, or why her indifference pissed him off as much as it did. Shouldn't it be him that doesn't give a fuck? That was the way these things were supposed to go, right? In all the stories he heard about friends with benefits, the girl got attached, the guy was the one who strung her along. So what was wrong with him?

"Did you bring the stuff?" Mars asked, biting her lower lip, then smiling. There it was, yet another reminder that this entire thing was just about the sex and the drugs. Sometimes he thought he should say something to her about it, about how hard she went and how too frequent she did it. Don knew if he did that though, there was a good chance that she'd just shut him out completely. It was selfish of him to just let her destroy herself, but he couldn't pluck up the courage.

"Yeah." He reached into his discarded pants pocket and pulled out the bag of mushrooms. Mars got off of Don and adjusted her underwear before sitting beside him. She grabbed two and chewed them, they tasted dreadful. The two stayed quiet for a while, waiting for the effects to kick in. "Feel anything yet, babe?" Don voiced, tired of the silence.

Mars shrugged and ate another, cringing a little at the taste. These things were supposed to take about an hour, but she wasn't feeling too patient. "Not yet."

"Well, I'm gonna take a piss." Don announced and stood, brushing off the bits of earth that clung to him.

"Lovely." Mars commented as he walked away, she threw her shirt on over her head, not that it did much of anything with the sides cut out of it. Scrolling through her ipod for some music, she settled on 'Enjoy the Silence' before she heard footsteps approaching, resulting in her lowering the speakers volume.

"No, Stiles, not yet." Scott stressed, Stiles seriously needed to drop it. It wasn't that he didn't want Mars to know, he did in a way. But he felt like a freak, and the less people knew that he was a freak, the less people he could hurt.

"You don't understand how pissed she is, dude." Stiles grabbed Scott's shoulder, stopping him from walking any further into the preserve. "She's got some sort of freaky bullshit radar thing."

Scott shook his head. "No. Maybe you're just a really bad liar." Mars recognized the voices and listened closer.

"I'm a great liar," Stiles defended. "Look, the point is, we've gotta tell her. Soon. Yanno, before Mars figures it out and skins us alive for being dicks." Stiles took a few steps forward before stopping cold. Yeah, he was screwed.

Mars sat on a fallen log, a blunt between her fingers. The general absence of her ever present cocky smirk was enough to let him know that both he and Scott were done. "Hi," She piped up. Scott and Stiles exchanged semi-frantic looks, obviously trying to figure out some sort of excuse.

"Uh…" Scott started, Stiles had said her name while in earshot, so that narrowed down his options significantly. Mars raised her smoke to her lips and filled her lungs before exhaling a row of rings.

Mars' smirk returned. "Something you need to tell me, boys?"

"N-no."

"We were just saying that, uh," Stiles looked at her for a moment, seeing the gears turning in her head. "I've got nothing. Scott?" Stiles looked over to his other best friend, Scott pursed his lips a little and glared, giving Stiles what would best be described as a 'bitchface'. "Not Scott. Okay. Um. Right. So. We're just gonna go back this way now." Stiles started to back away, but he made the mistake of looking away from her kohl rimmed eyes when she raised an eyebrow above them. "And you, you are in your underwear. Great."

Stiles scratched the back of his head. "Just, could ya- could ya put some pants on?" Scott looked at him, too, putting Stiles on the receiving end of yet another bitchface. "Are either of you going to speak real words or is it all up to me now?" Mars and Scott looked at eachother for a moment, not even communicating just knowing it would make Stiles squirm. Scott looked at Stiles again. "Jeeze, Scott, it's not like there's a choice." Stiles reasoned, he was about to let the cat out of the bag and Scotts expression let Stiles know that wasn't going to happen.

"Can we all just use our words!" Stiles cracked under the pressure he'd placed on his own shoulders.

Mars giggled, she was feeling very giggly. "Nola."

Stiles gave her an incredulous look, "Uh-uh. Don't start with that. No Martian." He pleaded, using the name Ahmir had given his sisters made up language as a kid back when A.j. was convinced Mars was an alien.

"Fine." She agreed. "I'm waiting."

In Mars' opinion, Don made an appearance at the worst possible time. At least he'd put his pants back on. "Yo, babe, gimme the bag." He demanded while fastening his belt. "Oh, sup." He noted his two formerly benched teammates and nodded in their direction. Mars tossed him the bag and he chewed on his third, hoping it would make them kick in faster. "You want some?" Don offered, holding out the bag to Scott and Stiles.

"No, thank you. But I would very much like for you to put a shirt on." Stiles crossed his arms over his un-toned chest. "When did everyone get abs?" He questioned, looking over at Scott, who was less than impressed.

"I think we should go now," Scott declared.

"But-" Stiles tried to argue, knowing that if he didn't tell Mars now, he might not get another chance. He didn't want to be stuck between the two. Scott was still certain he didn't want her to know, less than twenty minutes ago he'd almost killed Stiles in the locker room and put Jackson in an ambulance. The less she knew, _seriously,_ was better. He knew her well, which meant he knew that she'd be there every step of the way… which wasn't a good thing in this case.

"Now, Stiles." Scott stressed, grabbing his arm and pulling him back towards the lacrosse field.

"Whatever" Don sat down, blowing them off. Mars watched them get smaller and smaller the farther they got. Even when she couldn't hear them anymore, she could still see Stiles' hyperactive motions and mannerisms. She tried not to smile, reminding herself how angry she was as she laid down. She'd get her answers soon.

What she didn't anticipate was how soon, or how little effort she'd have to put into getting them. She sat on her bed the next day, drowning in a sea of pillows with her cat on her lap, a cup of tea on her side table and reading Fannie Flagg's _Fried Green Tomatoes._ The window slid open, a noise she was all too familiar with. God forbid there should ever be a _real_ intruder one day- she'd be dead. "So here's the thing, M'n'M." Stiles' voice was the first, she heard another set of feet hit the hardwood all while never looking up. Doc didn't seem to care all that much either until Scott came in, when he began hissing and ran out his cat door. Mars' eyes followed the cat and she put the book down, _What was his deal?_

"You know there's this thing called a door? Great invention I hear." Mars remarked, raising the book back in front of her face and turning the page.

"So you know that thing, that you're mad at us for cause we didn't tell you, we're ready now."

Mars lowered the book slightly and looked him over before dog-earing the page and tossing it in front of her. "Well? Spill." The boys had hesitated for just a moment too long.

"Scott, you want to take this part?" Stiles voice raised an octave towards the end.

"No!" Scott nearly shouted. "This is _your idea_"

Stiles groaned, trying to figure out how to word it just so. "So, Scotts a werewolf." Yeah, never a tactful one.

Mars had made the mistake of taking a sip of her tea just before Stiles confession, she choked on it. "Whatever you're having I'll take 10." She proclaimed, a smile passing over her features.

"No. Seriously. Scott, do the eye thing." Stiles hit Scott on the chest with the back of his hand and turned his head over his shoulders to look at him.

"I don't know how, it just happens!" Scott exclaimed, sounding panicked.

Stiled groaned and sat in front of her. "Ugh. fine whatever. Remember that night, when he got bit?" Mars nodded. "Well, we think it was Derek."

"Okay- stop- stop." Mars put her mug back on the nightstand and shook her head. "I know you don't like him, but seriously?" She looked almost angry with them. "You don't need to lie to me."

"We're not lying." Stiles stressed. "How else do you explain Scott getting good at lacrosse. Mars, he got a girl." He proclaimed like it was an impossible feat.

"The real miracle would be if it was you, twitchy." Mars smirked, he'd definitely had his share of adderall today with the way he was acting. "What do you want?" She asked, giving up and thoroughly convinced everything they'd said so far was a lie. On the same hand though, she didn't know what was so bad that they had to tell such a blatant lie over.

"Excuse me, what?" Stiles blinked a few times, thinking he didn't hear her right.

"What do you want?" She repeated. "No bullshit. Get to the point. You're telling me this for a reason now tell me what it is." She reasoned, Scott had been so dead set against cluing her into anything yesterday that they must've needed her help. Even if she was still angry that they were lying to her.

"Well… thing is…" Stiles drifted.

Scott decided it was time for him to say something. "We need your help to dig up what could potentially be the other half of the body," He informed her. "It's on Dereks property, that's why we mentioned him." Scott decided to retract the earlier, true statement. Hey, the less she wanted to believe him the better.

"I'm in." She agreed, getting up to grab a sweater and put on a pair of boots.

"I knew you'd say that!" Stiles smiled, overly excited and giving Scott an _I told you so_ look. "I- I knew she'd say that." Stiles said a little quieter and pointed to the girl that had just grabbed her flashlight after receiving an unimpressed look.

"Werewolves, though? Really? You couldn't come up with something else? Why not a vampire or- or a Merman, a dragon perhaps?" Her sass wasn't welcome by Scott.

"No, we were serious about that, too." Stiles continued to try and convince her.

"Sure."

* * *

"You only brought two shovels?" Mars blinked a few times, like she wasn't seeing right. Stiles just kind of shrugged, one in his hands in the others in Scotts. "Fucking idiot" She shook her head.

"No need to be rude." Stiles remarked, she gave him an all too familiar roll of his eyes.

"Derek had to bury her with something. I'll go look for a shovel. You idiots don't fuck anything up while I'm gone, aye?" Both Stiles and Scott nodded and went to the mound of new dirt. Mars went off to search the perimeter of the hale house. It took a little longer than she'd expected and buried in a mound of tools that could certainly kill her, including a shotgun which she brought back with her for good measure. This Derek guy, from everything they said in the car, sounded like a freak. Hardly a dent had been made when she returned to the pair. Seriously, maybe 3 inches of dirt was gone.

"What's that?" Scott asked when he saw her holding it.

"Shotgun." Mars stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, she opened it up. "It's not loaded, so you can calm your tits." She announced tossing it to the side incase she needed to make a show of it later.

They all went to digging, and digging, and some more digging. Almost two hours of it… maybe more.

"You know this dirt stuff is a lot heavier than it looked." Stiles tossed another shovel full out of the hole they'd carved out.

"Do you have any muscle? At all? In your entire body?" Scott laughed at Mars' comment, Stiles mocked her when she looked away.

"This is taking way too long!" Scott exclaimed, beginning to worry about Derek coming back. Obviously an unloaded shotgun and Mars' tiny frame wouldn't even begin to scare that werewolf.

"Just keep going."

"What if he comes back?" Scott continued.

"Then we get the hell out of here." Stiles just continued digging.

"What if he catches us?" Scott wasn't about to let it drop.

"I'll stall, because I'm guessing Stiles' plan would be something along the lines of 'let's all run in different directions and hope for the best'" Mars rolled her eyes, hopping out of the hole for a drink of water. Grave diggin really was more of a workout than anticipated. Be she regretted nothing, she was actually having some sober fun.

"I like that plan." Stiles agreed. "Whoa, stop, stop, stop." He held his arm out in front of Scott when his shovel hit something moderately solid. Both he and Scott brushed away the dirt and began untying the knots, Mars peered over from above them.

"Hurry up"

"Yeah, I'm trying, did he have to tie the thing in like 900 knots?" Stiles remarked, struggling with a later one. When the fabric moved all three mates screamed in unison, the boys jumped out of the pit, knocking Mars over. She recovered quickly and peered over like the other two.

"What the hell is that?!" Stiles shouted, pointing at the animal head angrily.

"It's a wolf!" Scott moved closer, the smell was god awful, Mars covered her nose for a second.

"Yeah, I can see that! I thought you said you smelled blood! As in human blood!" Stiles and Scott maintained eye contact, the only thing running through Mars' mind was _why did he just say Scott _smelled_ blood._ All she could smell was rot, and only now that the creature was exposed. They were speaking in the past tense, not present.

"I told you something was different." Scott replied, keeping the conversation between men… boys really.

"This doesn't make sense." Stiles held his head.

"We've got to get out of here." Scott proclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah. Help me cover this up." The two began covering the wolf head, Mars was looking between them still. Were they… were they serious about all this? They really thought Scott was a werewolf. Fuck, was everyone completely off their trolley? Maybe she was the one that was mad and this was some weird dream? Mars looked down at her hands and counted her fingers. Only five. The trance she was in was broken when bits of the ground in front of her began glowing red, she jumped up to see Stiles holding a purple flower and a long root. "What the bloody hell was that?" She questioned, wide eyed, arms defensively tense at her sides. Scott was the next to stans. "You guys." He breathed looking down. Mars followed his line of sight into the pit, the wolf was gone and a naked womans top half had taken it's place.

Mars didn't know what to do. What was happening? What was _happening?!_ It was a wolf, and now it was a girl. It fucking transformed from a wolf to a woman. A _dead_ wolf to a _dead _woman. They weren't lying earlier, none of it was a lie. How many were there? Was it only werewolves? Was there more? She was not prepared to factor the supernatural into her world view! How was Stiles so calm? Mars was normally so calm, so collected, so unaffected by anything. But she was shaking, she took one look at Scott and then-

Mars screamed.

She screamed bloody fucking murder.

Quickly as he could Stiles covered her mouth with his hand and held his arm tight around her middle as they fell to the ground. "Please stop screaming." He asked over the muffled and weakening noises. "Good." He moved his hand, but she looked at Scott again, scenario after scenario racing through her head. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head while closing her eyes and every tense muscle relaxed. "Well, uh, that went well?" Stiles shrugged, looking at Scott who was staring at the brunette passed out in Stiles' lap. If there was any reaction he didn't think he'd ever see from her, in regards to _anything_ he was pretty sure that was it.

"Maybe we should call your dad." Scott noted, rubbing his arm, more self conscious than he'd ever been in his life. If _Mars_ reacted like that, Mars who never bat an eyelash, Mars who survived a plane crash, Mars who'd known Scott for his entire life was so afraid of what he was- what was Allison going to do if she found out. He knew they shouldn't have told her. He knew it.

Stiles nodded in agreement. "You okay, man?"

"Yeah, I'm- I'm great." He lied. Jesus, what would the public do if it came out? Would they vilify him? But him in some weird genetic experiments? Try to kill him like Alison's dad? He _really_ didn't want to find out. There had to be _some way_ to reverse this stupid curse.


	4. wake up, wake UP, WAKE UP

**Beast of Burden**

**Chapter Four**

_**wake up, wake UP, WAKE UP**_

* * *

"_Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist_

_But the ability to start over."_

_-F. Scott Fitzgerald_

"I'm sorry that I fainted." Mars apologized, trying to remember why she'd done it. Well, she knew the _reason_ but she didn't understand why her body gave out. She felt terrible. Utterly, and completely terrible. For one, she still couldn't remember any of Lydia's party. Two, for not believing Scott and Stiles when they'd told her the bloody truth despite all of their hesitations. Third, among so much else, was the fact she'd completely _ruined_ Scotts self-esteem. Granted, she was still struggling herself to accept the fact that this boy she'd known since she was five was now a supernatural killing machine. Acceptance was going to be key though, they were all going to have to learn to live with… whatever this was. "I'm really, _really _fucking sorry, Scott." She pleaded, sitting on his bed and hugging a pillow while he cleaned and fixed up his lacrosse stuff. "Can you say something?"

He'd let her in the house, but he hadn't said a word. He didn't really know what to say, he was too sunken into feelings of inadequacy. "Uh… It's cool. It's not like you meant to do it."

Mars nodded. "You're still going to play in the game Saturday?" She'd been caught up to speed now, after they put Derek behind bars for the time being. Even though she was happy Scott had the choice and everything, she was really hoping he would make the right one and stay off the field. Though she hadn't seen him shift yet, and admittedly she wanted to- but not in front of the whole community.

"There's no way that I'm not playing that game." He informed her, twirling the lacrosse stick. Mars nodded, deciding to change the subject.

"So, I'm hanging out with Allison tomorrow." Scott's head snapped up. "Anything you want me to ask her?" Mars wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, making Scott blush a little.

"N-no" He shook his head.

"Don't lie to me, Scott McCall." Mars pointed an accusing finger.

His cheeks burned hotter. "I don't know, can you find out if she likes me?" He scratched the back of his head and put his lacrosse stick on the desk.

"She does." Mars confirmed with a confident smile.

"How do you know though? I mean, I seriously fucked up." Scott slipped back into his insecurities. It wasn't even that he'd fucked ... it had a little to do with that, but Allison was just so gorgeous! He almost felt as if the universe was playing some cosmic joke on him and the big reveal was on its way, almost at its exit.

"Scott, you did the right thing." Mars assured him. "You said her dad is a hunter, right? You did the right thing." The party seemed like forever ago anyways, and in hindsight, she really hoped Scott could see that this wasn't the end of the world. Reassuring people was never her strong suit, and this was no exception to the rule.

"Thanks for the painful reminder her dad's trying to kill me." Scott groaned, falling onto the bed face first in front of her, feeling even more overwhelmed than before.

"That's what I'm here for." A pillow found its way under Scott's head. "But, mate, she forgave you. She gets all smiley when you're mentioned. I can list all sorts of signs. She likes you, okay?"

"You really think so?" Scott looked up at her with a small sideways smile, his stomach was in knots hearing that Mars could see Allison's feelings for him. He just hoped they were real and Mars wasn't just saying this because she felt bad about fainting.

"Bloody hell, _yes, _loverboy_._" Mars shoved him.

"Positive?"

"I'm going to curb stomp you." The petite girl threatened, now that he was a werewolf, he wasn't even mildly intimidated by her. Apparently, he'd just heal. Plus, the most she ever would do was headlock him… sometimes bite.

"Violent," Scott commented, she shrugged. "So, Don?" Scott changed the subject. He didn't want to annoy her by only talking about Allison. Stiles was already rolling his eyes about it, no need to add his only other pre-lycanthropy real friend.

"What about Don?" Mars very nearly glared at him.

"I mean, in the woods the other day you two seemed-"

"High as kites?" She cut him off, not wanting to deal with the implications of being alone in the woods with drugs and half naked. For some reason, it had always kind of bothered her when Scott or Stiles knew anything about her _real_ sex life, not just the jokes she made.

"Er. Cozy." He corrected.

"You know you can say it, Scott?" Mars decided if she was caught, she may as well be blunt, besides, cozy sounded too… er… involved. "Shagging, fucking, having sex-"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, got it. No more questions…. I got it." Scott shook his head, it made him just as uncomfortable as it made her, if not more. She was far more liberal than most. Except maybe Stiles who had no modesty about his wanking whatsoever.

"Brilliant." Mars commented.

A thought crossed Scott's mind. "Wait, so, what are you and Allison doing tomorrow?"

"I don't know, going over to her house? Maybe mine even though thats not so preferable." Mars could have cringed at the thought of bringing Allison home to her house. Thankfully she didn't.

"Will her dad be there?" Scott asked a little hesitantly, again looking up at the girl with widening eyes. He could see panic setting over her features.

"Oh my god, I didn't even _think_ of that. What should I do if he's there?" She rushed, having more expression in just her eyebrows than most do in their entire bodies.

"Mars. Hey. Calm down, no need to have a panic attack." He joked, then remembered her panic attack earlier and thought it wasn't so funny. He eyed her carefully, this wasn't her. None of this was. Not the panic, not the fear or the blackouts. The idea of talking to her parents became more and more appealing everyday to him. She may never forgive him for it but he knew he'd be doing the right thing- Mars needed help. What was supposed to be just recreation seemed to be taking over and he didn't know how much longer he could watch her fall apart.

Little did he know, none of this was a side effect of drugs. The drugs were a side effect of what was happening inside of her.

"Yes there is! Scott, if he knows about you he might think I'm a wolf, too! What if he tries to bloody murder me?!" She nearly yelled, unable to make eye contact with him and beginning to breath heavily.

"Hey." Grabbing her hand, Scott sat up. He'd never seen her look that vulnerable. And he'd known her almost his whole life. But the girl in front of him was different. There were dark circles under her eyes and her eyeliner didn't help the situation, her hair was a curly mess and she was way too skinny these days. He definitely needed to talk to Mary. Soon. "Please don't faint on me again," Scott asked, making her laugh a little at how ridiculous that reaction was and begin to calm down. "You just have to… make them like you. Find out anything you can." He explained, the ears on the other side really wouldn't hurt.

"Scott, adults _hate_ me." Mars reminded him, shaking her head and willing her heart rate to drop back down to a normal rate. At least the suffocating feeling was fleeting. "Really, passionately hate me."

"My mom doesn't hate you." Scott reminded her with a smile.

"She doesn't like me either." Mars reminded him.

"No. She doesn't like what she found in my sock drawer." He laughed at the memory.

"I didn't even know that was there!" Mars exclaimed. Because really, she had no idea.

"She doesn't know that." He referred to his mother. The whole incident had been blown out of proportion anyhow. "Anyways, can you _please _find out if she knows about- um- things like me."

Mars rolled her eyes. "You're lucky I love you."

"I know." Scott smiled that really goofy adorable smile where his eyes crinkle up. "So… It's 1 a.m." He announced after a minute of near silence, which thankfully wasn't awkward.

"And?"

"And I want to go to sleep." He stated, face still reminiscent of a smile.

"Are you kicking me out Scott?" Mars raised an eyebrow.

"I'd say you can stay, but you know how my mom feels about it." Scott shifted a little awkwardly, his mom was really cool about a lot of things. But not when it came to Mars. Melissa used to be okay with her spending the night and letting the door be closed and letting them be home alone and stuff. All that came pretty much crashing down when Melissa found a condom in Scott's sock drawer. Now it was- no sleepovers, door open, Stiles is here if I'm not- that sort of thing. Scott felt really bad about it, he only had it there as a just-in-case/never-gonna-happen type thing and Mars hadn't even crossed his mind when he'd bought it. Obviously though, it pretty directly affected her- seeing as she was the only girl Scott ever brought to the house. Ever. Mars and Melissa weren't so close after that little incident. Reasonably, Mars wasn't so happy with the accusation when she was just over to help Scott with his English coursework. Granted, Melissa _had _been kind about it. It wasn't an "I know what you're doing you little tramp." type of thing. The confrontation was more, "So, kids. I found a thing today… if you're using this thing, you should tell me because of reasons."

Mars didn't really understand the logic because if they _were _doing anything- it's not like they couldn't just go to her house. Also, that whole "Better safe than sorry" thing. Melissa should just be happy that _when_ Scott has sex, he'd be safe about it.

"Right," Mars sighed at the reminder. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, get some sleep teen wolf." She joked and stood up with a stupid grin on her face.

"Oh, come on, don't start with the puns." Wasn't Stiles' joking enough? What did he ever do to deserve two complete dicks for best friends. Not that he would ever trade them.

After blinking a couple times, Mars said; "You really think I'm going to let this opportunity go to waste?"

Scott sighed, "No," and shook his head.

"You're so adorable." Mars pinched his cheek, Scott narrowed his eyes and lied back down on his bed, gesturing to the door. Mars went to it, leaning into its frame slightly so she could reach the lightswitch. "Goodnight, McCall." She said, flicking off the light and heading down the hall.

"Goodnight, Moss." Scott called after her. Mars smiled, going down the stairs. She made sure to lock the front door behind her… Not that a werewolf would really have much trouble defending himself. _Werewolf._

The word crossed her mind again. It was too surreal, like she was going to wake up soon. Yesterday, monsters didn't exist. But now she couldn't help but wonder what else might be out there. She found herself mentally scanning over every book she'd ever read. And she felt like next someone was going to tell her that there were parallel time lines running and that she was going to be a tribute in the hunger games.

The next stage on her trek home was excitement. Because if Scott could be a werewolf maybe wizards were real, too! Maybe Harry Potter was out there raising Albus and James and Lily with Ginny and Hogwarts was real, which of course led her into being bitter that she was not in fact in attendance of the school. There were just so many possibilities that were overwhelming and fascinating and beautiful and horrifying.

Why was Scott chosen of everyone in the world? It was sort of easy to see in some ways. Scott was loyal, kind, selfless and had so many other outstanding qualities- but he was friends with her. It didn't feel like she was deserving of the knowledge she'd been gifted.

* * *

Mars' hunch was right, she and Allison got off the bus at the stop in front of Allison's house. It was a big old thing, well maintained, really pretty. Mars couldn't help but wonder what her mom and dad _claimed_ they did for a living. Cause this was nice. Allison and Mars walked through the front door. "Mom, Dad, I'm home," Ally announced into the foyer.

Scott's advice to Mars was taken. For once. She wanted to make a good impression on the Argent adults, considering the circumstances. Hopefully the grapevine hadn't reached them first. So she wore plain un-ripped jeans, and unbuttoned, green plaid shirt and a plain white tee. Her hair brushed and in braids with minimal makeup. Needless to say, people at school had found it surprising.

A tall woman with a red pixie cut and an overwhelming confidence came out of the kitchen with a smile, the clicking of her heels entering the room long before her body. Mars let out a breath she knew very well that she'd been holding, it wasn't Chris. So far, she had no reason to believe Victoria knew anything. "You must be Mars." Victoria greeted, Allison had said plenty about her. Victoria's sister had said even more than her daughter, and the things Joyce said conflicted majorly with what Allison said. Better to make her own opinion- or, at least play like she would. "Pleasure to meet you."

"You too, Mrs. Argent." Mars gave the best smile she could muster and shook her hand.

Allison didn't really want to stick around for the twenty questions she knew her mom was fond of. "Mom, we're just going to go hang out in my room, is that okay?" Always ask permission.

"Of course honey, just let me know if you girls need anything." Victoria nodded before heading back into the kitchen. She wanted ears in that room, but she also knew that there was no reason to. Just because Joyce was convinced the Moss girl corrupted everything she touched, didn't mean that she did. Her sister had always been fanatical anyways. Logically there was no reason to worry. Though, the idea of her only daughter going down the wrong path frightened her.

The girls went up to Allison's room. Again, Mars found herself impressed with the seeming level of luxury, it almost matched the Martin household. "Your mom seems really nice." Mars claimed, leading the conversation.

"She is." Allison smiled, putting her jacket on a hanger and into the closet.

"Are you guys close?" She asked, taking a seat at Allison's desk. She had pictures all over the place, only with her family though. Mars guessed Allison didn't really have many friends moving around as much as she did. Admittedly, if it wasn't for the whole 'trying to kill my best friend' thing, her dad was kinda hot. Mars forced herself to shake the thought.

"Yeah..." Allison continued to smile. Mars couldn't help but wonder what it might be like, to have a close relationship with one's mother, any relationship at all really would've been nice. That just wasn't in the cards for her though. For about over an hour the girls talked about Allison's life in San Francisco and all the other places she'd lived. They talked about the struggle of growing up between two places that either had yet to find someone to relate to on- until now that was. It was nice, having someone to talk to, that really understood the feeling of being on the outside. Any apprehension or wariness Mars had had of Allison had virtually vanished. The best part was, there didn't seem to be any indication that she knew anything about werewolves at all.

"So, you'll never guess who was at dinner last night," Allison switched the topic, remembering what she had been meaning to tell Mars all day.

"Probably not. Who?"

"Don." Allison laughed at the whole thing. Dinner last night had been very awkward.

"Don?" Mars repeated. "Like… Don, Don?" She couldn't bring herself to use the word _my_ before his name.

"Well, he was introduced as Donald, but yeah." Ally joked.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a family dinner?" Mars inquired, recalling what Allison had told her about it yesterday in the hall.

"It was, he's my cousin, I guess." She said, completely lighthearted.

"Wait. What? Seriously? You and Don are cousins?" Mars questioned, it seemed very… odd. Were they related by her mothers side or her fathers? Did that mean he could know about this stuff too? Everything was becoming intertwined and complicated way too fast.

"Apparently? I don't know. Mom said we met when we were little, but obviously I don't remember him." Allison gave yet another laugh before looking down at her phone.

"Who would've guessed, aye?" Mars added. "Small world."

"And it gets smaller."Allison commented, pulling the cuffs of her sweater into her palms.

"Really?"

"Really. Yeah, my Mom said her sister, Don's mom, called and asked for help? I don't know, but basically, I'm here because of Don's family. Isn't that weird?"

"Very." Mars just wished Allison would stop talking so she could think, but it wasn't like Mars could just snap on the girl. She had to store the information to share with Scott and Stiles later. She couldn't think of this now, because if she did, the whole evening would be ruined and she'd probably seem suspicious.

"Did you know his dad is in a wheelchair?" Allison continued to tell Mars shit she didn't know about her… person.

"Uh. No." Mars cleared her throat. "So you met Joyce?"

"His mom, right?" Mars confirmed it with a nod. "I did."

"And you're still talking to me?" Mars laughed, god only knows the things that came out of that womans mouth. Probably something along the lines of Mars being a danger to society, her criminal record, corrupting her only darling son.

"I don't quite think my "aunt" is a reliable source." Ally added. "Pretty sure you're not the anti-christ."

"She said that?" Mars feigned flattery. "That's so sweet."

The doorbell rung, Allison and Mars looked at each other for a moment, like they were debating going and getting it. Ultimately, Victoria got to it before they reached a decision. "Allison! For you!" The girls wandered down the stairs, seeing a mass of strawberry blonde curls before seeing her face.

"Lydia! Hi." Allison smiled, she wasn't used to Lydia's whole personality yet. If that was even the right word to use.

"I know you two didn't think you could have a get together without me, did you?" Lydia commented, walking up the stairs ahead of them. Mars and Allison looked at Lydia ascending and then at each other.

"Not at all." Mars commented with a smile, it was very Lydia to just show up like that.

"So, back to it." Lydia commanded when they reached Alison's room, it was now evident Lydia had been here before. "What were we talking about."

"My long lost cousin Don Butler." Allison replied.

"You're cousins?" Lydia's expression was similar to Mars', except without the underlying horror of the potential implication. Not that Lydia could be expected to know any of that.

"They are." Mars confirmed.

"Small world." Lydia said.

"That's what she said." Allison pointed to Mars behind her. There was silence in the room for the first time in hours. "So, I'm sorry if this seems a little rude but I'm dying to know. Is Mars your real name?"

"No." Lydia answered for Mars.

"It's fine, Allison." Mars smiled, letting her know that there was nothing wrong with her asking. "It's nothing special anyways."

"Just strange, unpronounceable," Lydia cut in again.

"What is it?" Allison's curiosity was spiked. She wanted to know Stiles' real name too.

"Mu-" Lydia started.

"How about we _don't _do that, yeah?" Mars cocked an eyebrow, irrationally angry with her.

"I'll tell you later, Allison." Lydia rolled her eyes, Mars glared.

"If Mars doesn't want me to know, it's okay." Allison attempted to break the tension.

"I'll tell you later." Lydia repeated. Allison felt bad, but knew that resisting Lydia would be futile. Besides, she really wanted to know what kind of name you got Mars from. She'd asked Scott in the hall as well, but she was pretty sure he butchered it- especially when he tried to spell it and couldn't do that either. Scotts attempt at Stiles' name was no different. They were an odd trio, that was for sure.

* * *

_Saturday. Game day._

Mars sighed and ran a hand through her hair, standing in front of the hallway mirror. Blue eyes once again framed in heavy black khol, her clothes back to normal. She did keep the braids up though.

She took in another shaking breath and looked away from herself. It was gonna be fine. Scott wasn't going to shift, Derek wouldn't hurt him, it was all going to be fucking dandy. Mars looked at the clock on her phone. "A.j. are you fucking coming or not?" Mars banged on the bathroom door.

"Oi, how about we be nice to our ride, sis?" He replied from the other side.

"I'll be nice when you're done doing your hair." She replied, annoyance in her voice. She wanted to get to the field. "Bloody hell, it's been twenty minutes, how much time do you need?"

Ahmir opened the door. "Have you seen my afro? Have you?" Mars rolled her eyes, it wasn't _horrid_ but it wasn't great either. "Yeah, I thought so." A.j. looked her up and down. "You're going like that?" He cocked an eyebrow in the same condescending manner she always did. Mars happened to like her outfit, fuck what anyone else thought. It wasn't a school day and she didn't have to follow dress code, her skirt could be as short as she wanted it to be.

"Don't be fucking cheeky with me." Ahmir pushed past her and started down the hall, their mom was already at the field and Dad and Nay were out and about.

"Do you aim to look like you've just rolled out of bed?" He questioned, grabbing his keys off the hook in the kitchen.

"No, I aim to look shaggable, can we go now?" Mars rebutted.

Ahmir started out for his truck with his little sister trailing behind him. "Tosser." He commented.

"Git." She replied.

"Nutter." He opened the door.

"Wanker." She did the same, both climbed in the truck. They didn't hate each other at all, but she'd been staying at home lately and that meant that they'd seen too much of the other. If they could've gotten out of the house it might of been different, but it seemed like Mary had her on house arrest aside from going to Allison's. If only word hadn't gotten back to Mary that Mars was there when the other half of the body was found. That was yet another earful no one wanted.

"You make it really hard to do nice things." A.j. commented, starting up his baby.

"Are you kidding me A.j.? You want to go the game as much as I do, don't act like you're going totally out of your way." Mars leaned against the door and put her feet on the dash. A.j. rolled his eyes, he didn't mind, but as a big brother, he was obligated to act as if he did.

Garth Brooks began to play a little on the loud side. Mars always laughed, here was a kid with a 1992 pickup, every assortment of flannel and denim, every country CD you could imagine and then he'd open his mouth and it'd be all 'Fish and chips anyone? Tea perhaps? I need to use the loo.' Nay liked to make fun of his identity issues, Mars on the other hand loved her brother just like that, she thought it was great he knew exactly who he was. "I liked you better before."

"I'm sorry?" Mars turned to him.

"Fix it." He stated, pulling out of the driveway.

"Fix it? Seriously Aje?" Mars glared, it was a random statement.

"Yeah." He confirmed, keeping his eyes set on the road. "I miss my little sister." He attempted, trying to figure out how to get this conversation to go where he wanted it, since it came out exactly the opposite of how he'd wanted it to in the first place.

"We're seriously going to do this deep shit right now?" Mars asked, crossing her arms.

"Look, Tera." Aje started, using the only nickname that was derivative of her first. "I'm going to college in fall, this is like… the end for me at home." There, he was on the right track now.

"Ajjeee." Mars whined, she was trying not to think about him leaving. She was never a fan of change and he was the only thing between her and mom literally killing each other at that point.

"Well it's _true._" He continued.

"So, what are you saying?" It was worth the inquiry.

"That I'd like a _normal_ last semester." A.j. stressed the word normal, hoping that she'd catch on.

"So we just ignore each other like we do every other year." _I guess I have to be a bit more obvious,_ He thought. Aje was the type to beat around the bush, always had been, always would be.

"But thats boring." He replied. Mars face lit up and she turned towards him. She got it. Lucky for him, he was the only person she didn't want to murder when he didn't get to the point. He had her patience in that respect, not any others though.

"Oh. Oh my god. You want to come to parties with me." Mars proclaimed.

"Psh. No." Aje brushed it off, he couldn't give her the satisfaction just yet. His sister had the social life he'd always dreamed of, and that he wanted when he went to college. Not that he was super willing to let the little shit know he thought she was kinda cool.

"Yes, yes you do. That's totally where you're going with this." Mars smiled, energetic, her mind forgetting the fears she'd had standing in the hallway. When frankly, they were far more important. Compartmentalizing was going to take some getting used to. She was still just a teenager after all.

"Can't I just want a close relationship with my little sister?" Ahmir tried. Deciding afterwards that his statement may have made it worse.

"No." Mars laughed. "Oh, oh. Let me guess, you're nervous to go to college as a virgin." Mars taunted, not serious. That was until she saw the caught look on his face. "Fucking brilliant." She commented, a rather large smile on her face.

"Ugh, sorry I asked." Now properly embarrassed, he retreated. Mars continued smiling, of course she was going to help him, he's her brother, but she was going to make him suffer a minute.

"I'll do it." She promised a little later, just enough so he'd been left with his own thoughts.

"What?" Aje looked over at her, pulling into the parking lot.

"I, darling Ahmir, am going to find someone for you to fuck." Mars declared with her accent coming out particularly hard on the word "Fuck". She was now excited for tonight. Projects were always fun, they kept her occupied.

"Oh! Oh. Um. Thanks. Thanks sis." Aje didn't quite know how to react when he got his way, seeing as it was such a rare occurrence living with the problem child and the little demon that wore the face of an angel. He hated to say it, but he wasn't a fan of Ineas, then again she'd been making his life hell for years. Angry little fucker she was. She'd never show that to Mum and Dad though. To them she was perfect.

"... Have you ever been drunk before?" Mars continued her game of twenty questions, devising a game plan in her head.

"Loads of times." He lied, she could see right through him. So, having him lie about shit was out, new method was going to be needed.

"Aje." She scolded.

"No. Alright, I'm not like you." He defended. "I don't get invited places." Mars felt sad for him. He wasn't lying, she'd never seen him go out. Not once. She felt isolated often, but in a different way. He must've felt like no one even liked him, and that must have been shitty. It always seemed weird to her that he never got invited anywhere. Sure, he wasn't athletic, but he was handsome. He put his heart into everything, Aje was one of her favorite people ever even if she didn't want to show it to him. Hearing of his sadness hurt her nearly as much as it did him.

"Big brother of mine, you are going to have the time of your life tonight." Mars was now on a serious mission. Ahmir was going to have fun for once, even if he didn't get laid.

"Tonight?" His eyes widened.

"After the game. Don, Jackass and Danny are throwing a party. You're going." He didn't have a say in the matter, he was going, and that was final.

"Nah, you know, tonight? I mean, I don't- I'm not dressed for… that stuff." He looked down at the hoodie over his plaid button up and very worn in jeans. He knew he wouldn't fit in.

"It's a lacrosse party, Aje. just… er. Unzip your hoodie and… I don't know, don't talk." He had this habit of rambling… like a lot. It'd been known to ruin more than one opportunity for him. He might find a girl who thought it was cute one day, but she was guessing that day wasn't going to be today.

"Comforting." He joked, pulling into a parking space. "Thanks."

"You're going. You'll be just fine. Promise." Mars smiled, innocently.

Aje eyed Mars. "Last time you made me a promise, I ended up stuck in a room for three days."

"Don't be dramatic." She rolled her eyes. "The incident" was 4 years ago anyways. "It was like, two and a half." She corrected. "It wasn't even that bad."

"I pissed myself." Aje looked at her, more like glared.

"Not my fault you can't control your bladder." Mars remarked. "Look, I promise that nothing will happen to you as long as I'm there. Kay?"

"...Okay." He accepted hesitantly. "Get out of my truck."

Mars rolled her eyes and jumped down, not bothering to straighten out her skirt. Too much work, frankly. The brother and sister walked towards the field, the lights illuminated the place, and the smell of fresh cut grass was more than pleasing. Mars caught a glimpse of her favorite man in the entire world and smiled, noticing him from just his salt and pepper hair. "Sheriff!" She exclaimed, giving him a hug, it felt like _ages _since she'd seen him last. Sheriff returned the embrace and clapped A.j. on the shoulder after he released her. Aje was taller than him now. "Mum." Mars nodded, she'd been talking to Sheriff before her kids crashed the conversation. "I'm taking A.j. to a _party _tonight." Mars oozed excitement, she'd never taken her brother to a party. The word party had sounded distinctly Scottish, she needed to stop watching the BBC.

"What?" Mary looked at her son, a distinct sort of worry underlying in her voice.

"Right?" Mars laughed. She was just as surprised as Mary that he wanted to go out at all initially. Now, she understood- but that didn't mean it would be less exciting. "We'll be a little late, Mum. Don't wait up, okay?" Mary crossed her arms. This wasn't the time or place, but she really didn't want A.j. to go out with his sister. That was the last thing she wanted. Schools might withdraw their acceptance, or just deny him all together if anything happened or if he got caught. If Mars screwed this up for him, she didn't know what she was going to do.

"Yeah. Okay. I'm glad you're getting out A.j." Mary lied, giving A.j. a pretty smile. She _wanted _to be happy for him but it just wasn't happening. She couldn't make herself, she could only see this domino effect ahead. Starting with this party and then spinning into drinking and then after that he'd let his grades go and he'd throw away all he'd worked for. It was ridiculous, for her to feel like her own daughter would do that to her brother- but the fear was there. It was real.

"Me too!" Aje beamed, no longer hiding what he had hidden in the car with his sister. Mary smiled again, A.j. always made her smile. He was happy, so she tried to be.

Picking favorites was a horrible thing to do, but she couldn't control it.

Sheriff realized it was about time he cut in. "Lets go find a spot before the bleachers fill up like last time." He suggested.

"Great idea." Mary agreed, happy to be looking away from her kids. They couldn't see her expressions that way. Melissa McCall came walking from the opposite direction.

"Melissa, hey." Mars greeted, in an obviously great mood.

Melissa smiled, just as excited as Mars to see Scott play his first game. "Mars." They all took their seats, Mars in between Sheriff and Aje. Waiting for the team to get out was boring. Sheriff talked to Melissa, Mary and A.j. to each other, Mars turned was glued to her phone for the majority. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mr. Argent stroll up with his daughter and take a seat next to Lydia. Mars looked down at her outfit. So much for that good first impression.

_I will not let this ruin tonight_. She swore to herself. _Separate it_. Mars glanced back and waved at Allison before turning around. _He knows nothing, or he would've done something by now._

The team ran onto the field, the crowd cheering. Stiles found his worn in seat on the bench as the team dispersed. Of course, he wanted to play, but he had the title 'benchwarmer' for a reason.

Stiles jumped when Mars hopped over the bench and sat beside him. He was already lost in thought. Worried. Essentially, ever since his dad texted him that they let Derek out, he was in a panicky state. "Moss, what are you doing on my bench?" Coach approached her.

"Just a second, Coach." She held out a finger to silence him.

Coach threw up his hands, claiming; "I give up on kids."

"So, we've got a mission tonight." Mars smirked.

Stiles focused on the game that was beginning, glancing at her for only a second. "You mean making sure Scott doesn't go all hulk out there? Yeah. I'm trying." He stressed. "Or do you mean looking out for Derek Hale, who just got released from police custody that we got him put in?" Mars' throat felt dry, they _released_ him? They'd found half a body on his property. "Body's his sisters, deemed an animal attack." He rolled his eyes. Mars reflected on his words for a moment. As always, she thought before speaking.

"Neither." She spoke up. This supernatural stuff was _not_ going to interfere with everything.

"Wha- what are you planning than?" Stiles stuttered out.

"We're going to bring Aje to the lacrosse party tonight, try to get him a girl." Stiles' eyes widened, he _sincerely_ hoped she was joking at that moment.

"Okay, number one, I can't get myself a girl- much less someone else. And number two, we have bigger things to worry about!" He exclaimed, looking around after he was made aware of his volume.

"Okay, yeah, I see what you're saying. But look at it this way, if the game goes good- the first thing is eliminated and we can't live in fear of Derek- just go on like you normally would." Mars insisted, hooking arms with him and leaning against his shoulder.

"You need help, has anyone ever told you that?" He commented, even knowing her for almost 16 years, he couldn't quite figure her out. What the actual hell was she thinking? There was a dude out there that Stiles was 153% certain wanted to kill all three of them. And she was friggen calm as all hell, pretending like things were normal. She'd made such a fuss about him telling her that he mistakenly believed she might actually try and cope with something for once in her life.

"Loads of people, actually. They're probably right, too." Mars commented, lifting her head from and looking him in the eyes, a slight pout present over her features. "Come on, say you'll help me? Please, mate?"

"What exactly do you expect me to do, Mars?" He inquired, considering what little he knew about the opposite gender.

"I don't know, make him look good." Mars suggested.

"And how do I do that?" Stiles rolled his eyes.

"Just be yourself." Mars shrugged and started back for the bleachers.

"Mars- Mars wait." Stiles yelled back to her. "What- what does that mean?"

"You'll figure it out." She shouted back at him, casually smiling. The whistle was blown and the game began.

Something about the game was off, everyone could see it. Not only was the state champion _losing_, but the teamwork they'd displayed in the past wasn't there. "I literally going to kill Jackson." Mars clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms. It was obvious what Jackson was doing. There was no way that Scott would not be passed a single ball all game when he was completely open.

"Why?" Mary asked, her arms crossed. She noticed it too but didn't believe that it was intentional.

"Because, he's not letting anyone pass to Scott!" Mars exclaimed, climbing up on her seat and standing. "You got this, McCall!" She shouted, smiling wide when he looked over and giving him two thumbs up.

"Get down before you fall." Mary lectured. It wasn't so much that Mars was going to fall as it was the boys below her looking up Mars' skirt. Aje took a cue from his sister and stood up on the bleacher beside her.

"Go Scott! Woooooooooo!" A.j. cheered, making his voice as loud as he could and pumping his fists in the air. Mars turned behind her when she heard Allison laugh a little. Mars and Allison exchanged smiles, while Lydia sat beside Ally looking pissed off. Chris nodded, smiling a little. _Don't act suspicious_ Mars reminded herself after her breathing hitched. She returned the gesture and sat back down quickly. they can hear Allison laugh a little behind them. Mars turns around and waves.

Their support gave Scott got the push he needed. He charged through the field, adrenaline pumping through his veins; his _werewolf senses were tingling_ as he neared his target. Scott knew he had to win this game, that this was his one chance. So despite his fears and Derek's threats he let his new abilities guide him. He threw the ball and the crowd erupted in cheers. He felt the tension leave his body. For the first time since the game started he felt at ease. He was sure they were going to win.

The rest of the game flew by in a blur as Scott scored goal after goal.

In the swarm of people that had gathered on the field when the game ended, Don found Mars and kissed her. She pushed him away, holding a hand against his chest to keep him at bay. "How about no." She piped up, looking over his confused features. In his mind, they'd won, it was time to celebrate. "You think you can pull the shit you did on the field and I congratulate you?" Mars cocked an eyebrow and removed his hand from her waist, he looked annoyed. It's not like that was his choice, Jackson was captain and as soon as Coach gave the go ahead, he was the one to pass McCall nearly every ball he caught. "Try again."

"Come on, it's not like McCall isn't the star anyways." Don stressed. He should've known better than to almost fuck over Scott. Especially when she was sitting in the stands, when he knew she would chose Scott and Stiles over _anyone_, _any day_.

"Principle, Donald." Stiles grabbed Mars' hand and pulled her away, just in time. "Allison followed Scott, come on." Mars hadn't been worried about Scott running off alone, he just needed to calm down, right? But if Allison had followed- the calming down part wasn't going to happen. In fact. This was bad. Really, really bad.

The pair booked it for the locker room, Mars a little behind Stiles. Panic had set in on her again and breathing became progressively difficult. It wasn't just Scott that needed to calm down. They reached the locker room and maneuvered through a row of lockers, stopping short.

Scott and Allison were making out. Casually. No blood. No guts. No attacking. No wolfy-ness about it. Scott and Allison pulled away and Stiles and Mars did their best to act natural. Failing miserably.

Allison turned on her heels to leave, seeing the beat red boy and smirking girl. "Stiles." Allison acknowledged. "Mars." Allison passed, nodding to tell Mars to follow. Mars almost didn't go. She knew there would be gushing that she wouldn't know how to react to. This whole friend thats a girl thing was new to her. Before she followed Allison out, Mars winked and gave a thumbs up to Scott- who looked positively smitten.

They were hardly outside the locker room doors when Allison turned around and said; "I kissed him."

"I saw." Mars offered. "How was it?" She smiled, hoping she was doing alright. She, Scott and Stiles always either ignored the things all together or the conversation went something like: 'I got kissed' 'cool, bro. Tongue?' 'Yeah.' 'That's cool. Did you remember to brush your teeth this morning?' 'Yeah.' 'Good.' 'Boner?' 'Is that a question?'

So, yeah. She didn't quite understand how to do this when the reaction to her first kiss was. 'Dude, lets get pizza'

"Great. He's uh. He's a really good kisser." Allison blushed.

"Thats good!" Mars didn't know how to reply, so she stood there for a moment, awkward. "Uh, you coming to the party?"

Allison nodded. "Not really much of a choice with Lydia around." She laughed.

Mars smiled at her, "Come on, mate. You can ride with me and Aje."

* * *

_I don't wanna lie, I'm gonna take what you're giving, 'Cause I know you're willing, To take me all the way. _The speakers crooned Rock Mafia while Mars scanned her surroundings, to her left was a group of lacrosse players attempting a funnel. She was nearly 100% certain that kid was going to vomit it all out in a few minutes. Behind her, there was a couple getting hot and heavy on the couch. _Someone is about to get their dick sucked._ Mars rolled her eyes, even she knew that you do that shit in private.

_The big big bang, the reason I'm alive, When all the stars collide, in this universe inside. _Raising her cigarette to her lips and inhaling, Mars closed her eyes, trying to drown it all out for a moment. "What about her?" Aje broke her out of her monetary trance and pointed to a stunning red head. Mars wanted to tell him to go for it, but she wasn't cruel.

"Her?" Mars asked for confirmation, to make sure they were both looking at the same girl.

"Her." A.j. confirmed nodding in her direction and pointing still. Mars lowered his arm for him. There was no need to be obvious about what they were doing.

"No, love. Out of your league." She clapped her brother on the shoulder.

"Rude." He replied, crossing his arms over his chest, Mars tried to smile for re-assurance. They'd been at this for over an hour.

"Honest." Mars replied. Eventually, her eyes fell on a petite girl with a choppy blonde bob. The girl had almond shaped brown eyes, slightly too big lips, and a kinda-crooked nose on the smaller side. Blondie wore a pair of distressed jeans and a Rush 2112 tee. "Um… her?" Mars suggested, thinking that the girl might be kind of perfect for her weirdo brother.

A.j.'s head turned to where his sister was looking. "She's pretty." Aje looked over the girl, his palms beginning to sweat. If Mars thought he could do it, he felt like he could, and halving it be an almost-reality made him obscenely nervous.

"So go talk to her." Mars encouraged, putting her screwdriver in his hands so he looked like he'd been drinking more than he had. One beer wasn't much to brag about.

"You want to lead and I'll just like, I don't know. Follow and stuff?" A.j. suggested, taking a sip of whatever it was just appeared in his hand. It was disgusting, as was evident by his expression of distaste.

"Wingman." Mars grabbed Stiles' arm on her right and turned him to her. Stiles rolled his eyes. "Help A.j." She demanded, gesturing to the gangly boy in front of her.

"I don't know if you heard me the first time. But I have no idea what you want me to do." Stiles repeated what he'd told her earlier.

"Be yourself. Your embarrassing, annoying, twitchy self." Mars explained. "Make Aje look like a greek god."

Stiles looked at her, waiting for her to take the major blow to his ego back. When she didn't he internalized it, shrugging it off. "You are a cruel and heartless woman."

"You really mean it? That's so sweet." Mars kissed Stiles' cheek.

"What do I get out of this anyways?" Stiles questioned, hands shoved in his hoodies pockets.

"The satisfaction of knowing you helped out a friend?" Aje tried. He figured they were about the same level of loser, so maybe this could work.

Stiles just looked at Mars. Strongly communicating that she needed to do something for him. The thing was, if A.j. had just asked he would've been more than happy to be wingman- but Mars had to go demanding. No one could tell him what to do and expect him _not _to do the opposite without some sort of enticement. "I'll partner up with Lyd on the next project." Mars groaned.

Instantaneously, his body language and, frankly, everything about him lit up like a christmas tree. "Spit shake." He spit into his hand, holding it out in front of him. She had to shake on it, or else she would break the deal. It was like selling your soul to a demon if you didn't get the shake.

"Still disgusting." Mars mimicked him and shook on it, wiping her hand on her skirt after. "Just help Aje." She waved them off in the direction of the blond girl.

"Yeah, you got it." Stiles bounced, _He'd get his chance with Lydia!_ "Come on, man." Stiles pulled A.j.'s shirt in the direction of the blonde, not giving him and option about where to go.

"Hi there!" Stiles greeted the girl, adjusting his hoodie.

The girl looked him up and down before flat out stating; "No." There goes his confidence again.

"Woahkay." Stiles backed off, Ahmir nudged him. "So, uh, what's your name?"

"Poppy." She replied, uninterested.

"Poppy, that's- that's pretty." Stiles tried.

A.j. recognized her, and in knowing her- he felt like he could talk to her. "Yeah, yeah. You're in my physics class, right?"

"Am I? I don't remember an English kid." Poppy commented on his voice, hell, she would've remembered an English accent- who wouldn't.

"Well. Uh, yanno, I normally stay in the back of the class." Aje scratched the back of his head. "I'm not a mathy- person."

"Is anyone?" Poppy agreed, flashing a perfectly straight smile.

"Nah." A.j. pointed to Stiles. "Um well I'm- I'm Ahmir and this is my mate Stiles."

"What the hell is a Stiles?" Poppy wanted the sophomore to go away.

"Me. I- I'm a Stiles." He was definitely picking up the vibe she was putting out. "Yeah, yanno what, I'm gonna take this as my cue to go. You two kids have fun." Poppy looked at him as he continued to stand still, just looking between her and Aje. "I'm going." He announced, walking away to look for Scott somewhere in this mess of drunken idiots.

Back over by the kitchens, Mars leaned against the archway and Don against the wall beside her as they watched the scene unfolding in front of him. Mars gave an encouraging nod when her brother looked back and smiled excitedly. "How are you even related?" Don commented. "He's such a fucking dweeb." Mars side eyed him, annoyed. No one could talk about A.j. like that.

"If you really must know, we share parents. Thus making us siblings. Don't know if you ever heard of it, kind of a sacred bond." Her sarcasm was noted, but not appreciated. Don realized he fucked up. "And only I can call him a dweeb. I think it would be wise if you shut your trap before I knock your teeth out."

"Feisty." He brushed off her anger.

"And I don't even try." She rolled her eyes and let out a heavy breath.

"Want to go to dinner tomorrow?" Don tried, his timing literally horrible.

"No."

"Why?" _If only looks could kill, Don would be dead._

Deciding not to bring up the fact he was a twat and to also, with any luck, prevent him from asking again in the future, she said; "Because first, it's dinner, then it'll be dates, then come the overnights. After that you'll start talking about love and calling me your girlfriend and frankly all of it is pointless. All fucking pointless." Mars stood up straight. "So no, Don. I won't go to dinner with you, because I will never be that girl."

"You could have just stuck with no." He huffed.

"Fuck off, Don."

"Do you know how many girls would kill to be with me?" Again, he'd said the wrong thing.

"Yes, and I highly suggest if you're looking for someone to get more than fucked and fucked up with, you choose one of them." Mars replied, disinterested. "And if thats what you decide, I'll be happy for you and it was fun while it lasted." Don felt like she'd slapped him. "We've had this conversation before. I like your cock, I like your drugs. I'm done being nice about it."

"Understood." He was going to try one last thing. "You know, no one would think any less of you if you showed that you care."

"You should walk away before I seriously snap at you." Mars didn't even look at him when she said it, she was seething. _I fucking care about things._ She wanted to scream at him, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. _Aje, Stiles, Scott, Sheriff, Doc._ She ran through the 5 grand loves of her life she'd do anything for them as she's proven several times over. How dare Don say she didn't care about anything when those five were just the tip of the iceberg.

"Whatever." Don walked away, finding his way to Danny, Jackson was off with Lydia.

"Hey, Watson!" Don heard Mars' voice yell. He turned around and Mars was making out with his teammate, one hand on the back in his hair, the other holding a drink. Watson had a hand grabbing her ass, the other holding a drink as well. Don was repulsed by it. "That offer still on the table?" Mars recalled an offer to fuck from the last time she saw him, pulling away only an inch. Her hand finding his and guiding it under her skirt, she knew Don was watching and that was the whole point. Well, that, and she really was really quite horny. "It's a one time thing, can you handle it?"

Watson's eyes widened a little, but he recovered. "Yeah, of course." Mars put her drink down and removed his hand from her bum under her skirt, pulling him up the stairs to Danny's parents room.

Don watched them go up the stairs. "I fucking hate her." He glared.

"If you hate her so much, then why do you care what she does?" Danny cut a hole in his statement, between him and Jackson- he didn't know who he wanted to punch in the face more when they started talking about trouble in paradise.

"Shut up, Danny." Don snapped.

"And hasn't she pretty explicitly stated that she's going to do what she wants and who she wants and that this is nothing serious?" Danny reminded him.

"Danny." Don warned.

"Look, I'm just saying that maybe you're taking it a little personally. She never promised anything." Danny's words were met with nothing but silence. "I know her pretty well, if you want her to do something, it's got to be her idea." He suggested, and it was true. Knowing someone since the first grade does allow you to get to know a person. Don didn't reply, he decided to change the subject when A.j. walked by hand in hand with Poppy heading for the door.

"Now there's a miracle."

"I don't know, Ahmir is funny. It's not that surprising." Dan commented, shrugging. He regretted throwing this party, his parents were going to kill him when they got back from their trip.

"Do you like him?" Don questioned.

Danny held his tongue. "No." He was so annoyed, ever since he came out Don had been acting odd. Of course, he knew Don didn't mean to say a lot of the shit he said- but the mild homophobia got under his skin. Just because he was gay, didn't mean he wanted to do every guy he saw- just like Don didn't want to do every girl he saw.

* * *

Leaves moving gently in the wind was the first thing Mars saw when she opened those big blue eyes that morning. The sun wasn't quite risen yet and the skies were pink on the horizon. _It's beautiful._ She thought.

Mars slowly woke up, not registering much until she realized- she couldn't hear anything. _What the fuck._ Mars let out a breath, feeling herself sinking. She turned to the left.

She was in the water.

The calm that had been keeping her afloat was long gone by the time she screamed and water began to fill up her lungs. She knew how to swim. But she couldn't fucking remember and she was flailing. _Where the fuck am I?!_

Feeling pressure on her waist and tugging didn't do much to calm her down. In fact, it did the opposite. "Get off of me! Get the fucking fuck off of me!" She screeched in between gasps for air. Whomever grabbed her pulled her out of the water and onto the lawn. She began choking up water and gasping.

"You're okay." Danny held her, confused as all hell. She continued to cough and shake and held his arm while trying to steady out her breathing. "Mars. You're safe." She took in her surroundings. She was still at Danny's house, plastic shot glasses and cigarette butts littered the area around them. Danny and Greenberg had woken up to her scream, they'd been sleeping on the deck.

"What happened?" Greenberg ran over to them.

"I don't know! I just- I woke up and- and I was in there! Why the fuck was I in the pool?! How can you sleep in water?!"

"Hey- hey, calm down okay." Danny held her arms at her side, Mars took a deep breath and nodded. "You don't remember anything from last night?"

"I remember everything up until after I fucked Watson." Danny and Greenberg didn't so much as flinch at her vulgarity.

"Okay. Do you remember taking anything?" Danny was freaked out by whatever just happened. Really, overly freaked out.

"No, I only had one drink." She shook her head, before looking between the two boys in front of her. "Guys, promise me this will stay between us?"

"Promise." Greenberg agreed, Danny just nodded.

"Thank you." Mars couldn't make any more eye contact, and she was suddenly very cold.

"Are you okay?" Greenberg handed her his jacket.

"I'm fine. I'll be fine."


	5. I am not a Monster

**Beast of Burden**

**Chapter Five**

**I am not a Monster**

* * *

"_Just as every cop is a criminal, and_

_all the sinners saints, as heads is tails, just _

_call me Lucifer, cause I'm in need of some restraint."_

_-The Rolling Stones_

"Maybe it was my blood on the door." Scott suggested, turning around to face Stiles and Mars at their table with his entire body. Mars opened her eyes and raised her chin from her hands,chem class was just so _boring_. Especially with Mr. Harris' droning voice and sustenance lacking lectures.

"Could have been animal blood?" Stiles tapped his pen against his books, attempting to comfort Scott. The reality of it was that nothing was going to grant Scott relief until whatevers blood was on the door turned up. "Yanno, maybe you caught a rabbit or something." Stiles continued. Mars moved her stool closer to Stiles' and leaned into the conversation, resting her chin on her lab partners shoulder. Stiles hardly acknowledged her touch.

"Yeah, wolves eat rabbits, right?" Mars tried, looking at Stiles momentarily before returning her eyes to Scott. Honestly, she was still freaked out about Scott's dream having really happened. Freaked out wasn't right, she was afraid. Of him. And that was a pretty shit feeling because she knew it was Scott. Scott could hardly even squash a spider- he worked at the animal clinic for goodness sake. Perhaps it wasn't a fear _of_ him, but a fear of what was happening to him. He blacked out, just like she had. _Exactly _like she had, more than once. So, she had to be calm, she had to focus on something. Anything other than herself, and Scott provided the perfect distraction. Using him wasn't right per say, but it was so convenient she couldn't get around it.

"Raw?" Scott's eyes widened a little, his voice taking on a clearly grossed out tone.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "No, you stopped to bake it in your little werewolf oven. I don't know, you're the one who can't remember anything." Mars dug her chin into his shoulder, he opened his mouth and let out a hushed ouch and turned her way. Mars raised her pointer finger to his lips and shushed him. "Seriously?" Mars smirked at him, but in all seriousness, he was being far too loud- the whole class didn't need to know their business. "Their business" made is sound like they belonged in a loony bin.

"Mr. Stilinski, if that is your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once and a while." Harris confirmed Mars' suspicions, she and Stiles looked at eachother- Stiles annoyed by the fact she was right. He hated when she was right. "I think you three would benefit from a little distance, yes?" Harris continued. "You and Miss Moss especially." He looked at the pair, Mars' hand on Stiles' thigh and her head on his shoulder and the very small amount of space between their faces and Harris was overly annoyed.

"No." Stiles replied, seemingly unsettled that someone would even suggest such a thing.

"Yes well, interactions such as that should be reserved for outside of school." He reminded them, Stiles still didn't understand the problem. To spite her least favorite teacher Mars maintained eye contact with him, smirking as she slid her hand across Stiles' leg, resting it on his inner thigh, and kissing him on the cheek. Losing the innocence of the touch all together when she realized that something else was hanging out below her hand. As always she played it cool, like she meant to do it. Stiles' eyes widened as she touched him… there, letting out a small moan that he disguised as a cough. He wasn't all that surprised by it- she'd done things along the same lines before- just never on him. Mars removed her lingering lips from his cheek and then her hand. Harris stood at the head of the class gaping as Mars collected her things and tucked them in her bag. Scott and Stiles were exchanging looks of "I don't know's" and the rest of the class just kind of snickered to themselves.

"Ya, I know, office." She commented as she passed by darling Adrian Harris and headed for the classroom door. As the boys found new seats and Stiles was forced to re adjust his… erm... discomfort, a girl stood up exclaiming; "Hey, I think they found something!"

Everyone (Moss inclusive) headed for the window to see a body being moved into the ambulance. Mars' heart sped up. That was a body, from the bus, a human… an actual person. Where the hell had he even been to of not been found immediately? "That's not a rabbit." Scott pointed out the obvious. The man jumped up, grabbing at the EMT's shoulders. The class screamed and stepped back, Mars bumped back into Jackson but neither really seemed to care, they were too fixated on what was going on outside.

"Oh, hey." Stiles breathed. "This is good, this is good. He got up. He's not dead, dead guys can't do that." He grabbed Scott's shoulder.

"Stiles, I did that." Horror struck across every one of Scott's features. Mars crossed her arms over her chest, uncomfortable.

"I got to go to the office." Mars lied, not knowing what to say. Avoiding the topic all together seemed like the best option. Without so much as another word, Mars took off out the back door of the school. She shuffled through her bag until she found her pack of desperately needed cigarettes. She put it between her lips and struggled to get her lighter to ignite.

The end lit up and she breathed in heavily. _Don't cry._ She told herself. Frankly, she didn't understand why she felt the need to. _It might not have been him._ Maybe it was her? Could she have done that? She tried to recall last night, but she couldn't. _Did I do that?_

"This isn't about you." She scolded herself, "It's about Scott." She near whispered. "It's about Scott." She repeated, nearly inaudible.

Mars took a seat against the building, sticking her head between her knees, cigarette dangling loosely in front of her between her index and middle fingers. Was it possible to be repulsed by yourself? By your own selfishness?

* * *

Mars walked into her house, tired as all hell even though she'd slept more in these past few weeks than in the past year. She was home a little late, and she wanted desperately to have a drink, but she was trying to not screw up for a while. At least long enough that her mom wouldn't flip out on her every waking second.

Yelling echoed from the kitchen down the narrow hallway leading to it. "I'm going now! He is my father, I shouldn't have to wait." Mars heard her father, she stepped slowly, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. She did want to get to her room, but unfortunately, that involved going _through_ the kitchen.

"And they are your _kids_, Sayid!" Mary shouted back.

"So you just fucking tell them for me!" Sayid sounded angrier by the second. Mars bit the inside of her lip and sat on the floor, waiting for it to pass. She looked at her nails for a moment or two.

Mary's voice bellowed; "You're one giant child! God forbid you actually try and parent!" Mars found herself with her knees tucked against her chest as she listened to them fight. Mars unlocked her phone, finding **Little Stilinski** in the contacts and typing **s.o.s. **in the messages body. She hovered over the send button, but ultimately, she just locked the phone without doing anything.

"Like you're one to talk, Mary." Mars heard footsteps getting closer to her and the voices getting louder. Mars panicked not reacting fast enough, so she tripped over herself as she tried to stand. "Can we not do this right now?" Sayid's usually slick black hair was messy, he looked tired as he rounded the corner and overly stressed.

"Mars, where have you been?" Mary snapped, seeing her daughter stumble and assuming the worst.

"With Allison and Lydia?" Mars managed. She wasn't really with anyone, she'd just been roaming around to be quite honest- but somehow hanging out with two mom-approved friends seemed like the better option..

"Tell the truth." Mary scolded.

Mars couldn't handle her mother's tone and accusations. "You caught me, Mum. I was just out fucking the rest of the lacrosse team." She seethed, Sayid's eyes widened, he didn't know what he could possibly say in response to that, so he just stared at Mars.

Mary looked between Sayid and Mars, waiting for her husband to say something. "Want to reel in the vulgarity?" Mary remembered the circumstance and took it into her own hands.

"Not particularly." Mars ignored her mother, turning her attention to her father. "...Where are you going, Dad?" She was anxious, her fingers twitched a little bit. Whatever they'd been fighting about was serious- really serious. Terrified that this was her dad's last straw, she could feel pinpricks in her eyes- he knew he wouldn't bring her with him- but he wouldn't leave Mars alone with Mary, would he?

Sayid slipped past Mars and picked up the packed duffel off of the ground. Everyone was always packed, always ready to run; and she was no exception to that. This home was hell. "I'm going home for a couple of weeks, got to fetch Teta." He explained, clearing his throat. Mars perked up, her grandmother was easily one of her favorite people in the entire world.

"Teta is coming for a visit?" Mar smiled, "That's brilliant!" she exclaimed.

Mary and Sayid looked at each other, communicating wordlessly in a way that only a couple who'd been married for almost 20 years could. Her father opened his mouth to speak, having an obvious hard time forming words. "Dad. he uh-" He managed, leaning against the small table in the hall. "I got to- erm."

"Dad? Dad, is grandad alright?" Mars' panic was back, she'd never seen Sayid like that, not once in her entire life. He looked like he was having trouble just keeping himself upright. Mars couldn't handle the wait, so she turned to Mary. "Mum?"

Mary held her head in her hand, everything had shit timing right now. "He had a stroke last night." Mars was repulsed by the lack of sympathy in her voice before she'd processed what had been said. _Grandad is dead._

"Last night? This happened last night and no one said anything?" Mars snapped, her gesture expansive and her face red.

"It's not exactly like you were here, Mars!" Mary shouted back, desperately wanting Mars to just disappear.

Mars' voice gave her away, even when she tried to be strong. She realized that someone else's grief was more important than her own. "Dad- Daddy, are you alright?" She turned to him.

"What kind of a stupid fucking question is that?" Sayid dejected, not any regard for his words. Mars wanted to slap him. She wanted to push him out the door and tell him not to fucking look back. She wanted to scream at him for every time he'd ever wronged her, for every time he sat back or pretended not to hear the things Mary said to her. All the times Mary said she wished Mars hadn't been born, that if she was going to leave that she should just stay gone. Mars wanted to scream at her father for every time she'd been lost and desperate and all she had needed was her dad to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be alright.

But she couldn't bring herself to do it, she buried it, added it to the fire.

"Y-you're right. Stupid question." Mars wiped the small area of skin just below her right eye. "Have a safe fucking flight." She spat, taking one last look at her two life-givers and walking right back out from where she'd came in. She didn't even bother to grab her phone. She just wanted out. Out of that conversation, out of her family, out of her house.

Without thinking about it, she found herself standing in front of the Stilinski home. It wasn't really all that surprising. She always found herself back here. Mars unclasped her necklace and unlocked the front door with the key that hung from it before returning the crescent and the key back to her neck. Closing the door behind her, she turned on the lights immediately. She couldn't let herself be still, for if she had the smallest second, she would break down entirely.

First things first, she went into the laundry room and grabbed a hamper, knowing that when she reached Stiles' room everything would be strewn out haphazardly. So, she collected all of the clothes laying around in his room and from Sheriff's and started a load of laundry. It didn't take long enough, she had to do something else. The vacuum found it's way out of its dusty hallway closet and she took care of every room in the house, but she needed to do more.

One chore rolled into the next, all of the laundry was done and folded (occasionally ironed) and returned to their respectful bedrooms. She'd scrubbed both of the bathrooms down to the grout between the floor tiles. Every dish was washed and every paper on the kitchen table stacked neatly in three separate piles.

Sheriff came home around midnight with his jacket hung over his forearm and overly tired. This crime influx was kicking his ass. He couldn't wait till his head hit the pillow, but he also realized the reality of his situation, which was he would most likely just going to go sit at the kitchen table and work some more. He didn't register that the lights were on yet, he wasn't that alert. Maybe he needed some coffee.

He walked to the kitchen and tossed his jacket over the back of his chair. His coffee cup wasn't there anymore, and everything was tidy. He walked from the table into the _actual _kitchen and he saw her. On her hands and knees, wearing a big ol flannel and jeans and a pair of yellow rubber gloves as she scrubbed the kitchen floor.

"Bad day?" Sheriff made his presence known, Mars nodded without looking up. He crossed his arms. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, watching her carefully. He didn't know it, but he'd made a mistake. He'd broke her out of the trance she'd been in for nearly five hours now. Mars stopped scrubbing and shook her head.

A few stray cries let themselves go. She had been silent, he wouldn't have even known if it hadn't been for the sniffle when she breathed in. Sheriff sat down on the floor with her, which was surprisingly dry. Who knew how long she'd been working the floor. Mars took off the gloves and tossed them into the bucket. "Grandad died" Mars' face contorted as she tried to hide her sadness. It was so _hard_ but she couldn't bring herself to let it out.

"Come here." Sheriff held out his arms for her, letting her know that it was alright, that he would be here for her as he always was. Mars nearly tackled him, burying her head into his chest and curling up essentially on his lap as sobs escaped her. He kissed the top of her head, this was terrible, she could hardly even breath. "Shh" He tried to sooth her with no avail. He had no idea what to say.

"Why does everyone have to die?" Mars mumbled before being taken over again by her crying. She couldn't get herself to stop, and it was only made worse once she began to think about Claudia.

Sheriff felt himself getting a little choked up when she asked that. It was going to lead to the _one _thing that he, Stiles and Mars never talked about; his late wife. He still wasn't ready, it didn't matter how much time had passed. "I ask myself that question everyday, kiddo." He answered finally. It was all he could manage. "Do you remember what I told you after **She** died?" Sheriff couldn't say her name… he hadn't in a long time.

It had taken him a few days to say anything after she passed, but Mars remembered when he did vividly. She was eight years old at the time, and she sat at the bottom of the stairs waiting for someone to come out of their room. Going home wasn't an option, her mom had been drunk ever since she'd gotten the call and Mars didn't want to upset her even more. Knocking on the Stilinski's door didn't seem like a good idea either because she knew they were sad, too. So, Mars sat on the middle step in front of the house, her hair a curly, greasy mess because she didn't want to ask her mom for help and in the same dress she'd worn for three days straight. Mars had been at the hospital with Stiles when the steady beeping went flat, she'd been sitting on the bed with her before the doctors came in and ushered them out. Then, she didn't understand what was going on, why Stiles was crying, why he wouldn't talk… but A.j. explained to her what death was when she got home, and then she began to cry, too. _What do you mean not ever waking up?_

Sheriff had invited her inside when he saw her through the window, he didn't say much. Mars remembered making him sit down on the couch and giving him a really bad cup of coffee and a blanket, all wordless- words seemed too heavy, too loud. When he finally did speak, it was admittedly more to reassure himself than the child sitting on the floor in front of him. "_We've all got our time, Mars."_ He'd told her. "_I know it hurts right now and… god does it hurt- but one day everything will be okay again." _

Mars sniffled. "I remember." She couldn't help but feel hopelessly selfish again. Sheriff had lost his wife, the mother of his kid, the love of his friggen life and here she was crying about a grandfather she'd maybe had three real conversations with in her entire life. What was wrong with her? Mars looked up at Sheriff for a second, she'd made him sad. She'd made him think of Claudia. Why did she have to burden everyone?

Standing up, Mars wiped her nose on her sleeve, not really caring how unsanitary some may find it. "I- I should go." She mumbled. "Aje is probably upset." That was assuming someone had told him by now, she didn't have her phone with her to check.

"It's okay to be upset." Sheriff stood up himself and shoved his hands in his pockets. "It's only human."

"Yeah, well I don't totally feel like one to be honest." Mars slipped, realizing so when Sheriff looked at her like she had 5 heads.

"I can make grilled cheese?" Sheriff suggested, all the dishes were clean now after all. She gave him a small smile, wiped her nose on her sleeve a second time and gave her surrogate father a small smile. That was a yes.

Sheriff took the pan and bread out of the cupboard, the butter and cheese from the fridge and turned on the stovetop. Taking the opportunity while he wasn't looking at her, Mars composed herself and steadied her breathing before putting her ipod on the jack. "_Not Dubstep" _ was the playlist she picked for the classic rock to come through the speakers.

As always, Mars sat herself on the counter. The sadness she had was being pushed back and buried and replaced with longing. It was astonishing to her how at home she was here, how much more of a father Sheriff was to her than her own flesh and blood. Today just re-affirmed her belief that she'd been born to the wrong parents. The real ones she was trying desperately not to think about, honestly, the only reason she stayed in that house was Aje. Nay would be fine without her, but not her brother. Maybe that was a lie, maybe _she _wouldn't be fine without her brother not the other way around. Long story short? Her parents were shit. "Hey, uh, you know where Stiles is?" Sheriff questioned, it was getting late and the jeep wasn't in the driveway.

"I think he's at Scotts." Mars lied, she didn't have any idea where he was (again with the whole forgot the phone thing) but it was better to cover for him than throw him under the bus. "They wanted me to head over but…. uh. I passed."

"Reasonably." He reminded her, judging by the state she'd been in when he found her on the floor, it was probably best she laid low tonight. "So, I hear you're making some new friends at school?" Stiles had told him about Lydia, Allison and Mars beginning to talk- he thought it was a step in the right direction, maybe they'd be a good influence on her.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, they're alright" Mars smiled, she was slowly growing fond of them. Almost immediately after the smiling began it stopped, she couldn't be happy right now. Not with grandad, not with Claudia."Scott's dating one of them." Mars deflected the subject away from herself.

"Oh yeah?" Sheriff asked, burning one of the sandwiches a little on the side.

Mars smiled. "Yeah. They're actually really cute together."

"Always a about you, kiddo? Seeing anyone?" Sheriff put the finished sandwich on a plate and put on the next one.

She shrugged. "No. No one really strikes my fancy."

"I see, Stiles still hung up on the Martin girl?"

"And he probably always will be."

"Yeah, you're right." Sheriff laughed. "You think you can, I don't know, talk him out of it?" As cute as the crush had been, Sheriff couldn't see it going anywhere. Not that his kid wasn't awesome, he just wanted him to go have fun and not be hung up on the same girl for his entire life. "I think it would be good for him to start dating." Sheriff confessed. "Don't give me that look."

Mars was glanced over at him with a cocked eyebrow and a roll of the eyes. "Talk Stiles out of something…"

"If anyone can do it, it's you."

"True, but I'm not too keen on manipulation. It's reserved for emergencies only." … at least for Scott and Stiles… everyone else? Eh.

"It's been like 10 years."

"Who would he even go on a date with, Sheriff." Mars questioned, deciding she wasn't patient enough to wait for his to be done, she took the plate next to the stove and sat back up on the counter.

"I don't know, what about that- uh- oh shit." He blanked. "That Lindsey girl? You know the one with the braces." He remembered one of the girls he'd heard Stiles mention at one point or another.

"She got those taken off, boyfriend now."

"Okay, what about Pheobe." He suggested, Mars took a bite of the grilled cheese and shook her head. . "He talked about a Margaret once?"

"She says he smells funny." Mars informed her surrogate father, she did have to agree with Margaret though. Stiles did smell funny sometimes.

"There's got to be someone."

"I'll see what I can do."

The room got really quiet, Sheriff turned off the stove and crossed his arms. "You feeling any better?" Mars was tempted to shake her head, but she nodded instead. "That's what I like to see."

They exchanged smiles, pretending like all was good because it inevitably would be. The front door creaked open and Stiles rounded the corner to the kitchen. "So, I was planning on sneaking in but the lights are on and you're standing right there so am I grounded or are we good here?"

Sheriff and Mars looked at eachother for a second, all three of them knowing very well that Stiles wasn't about to get any form of punishment. "You were out past curfew"

"I was… stuck in traffic" _You're such a shit liar. _Mars shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"You're not grounded, but don't let me catch you again."

"Window next time, got it." Stiles walked over to the kitchen, taking a bite of Mars' grilled cheese while it was on it's way to her mouth. "Sup, Mars."

"Trying to get you a date." She pushed his head away to let him know he was not welcome and he needed to get his own. She thought it was great that he didn't ask why she was there. The less she had to think the better.

"With Lydia?" Stiles inquired, enthusiastic.

"No, mate." Mars took the last bite of her sandwich

He pouted a little. "You promised at the party." Stiles hoped the reminder might help his case a little. "You're not going to break a spit shake, are you?"

"Oh, yeah. Shit." she cursed.

"I expect you to pay up soon."

"Go to bed, Stiles." Mars shoved him away. "Can't you see we're having a grown up conversation?"

"You're nearly a year younger than me." Stiles pointed out, he frequently forgot she skipped a grade when they were younger.

"Yet I'm vastly more mature." Stiles narrowed his eyes.

"Just get Lydia to talk to me." He walked upstairs after grabbing a jug of milk. Mars and Sheriff stared at each other as Stiles retreated, silently questioning what was wrong with him.

"Well, I should go home now." Mars sighed, putting her dish in the sink.

"Do you need a ride?" Sheriff questioned, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Mars shook her head, she didn't want to cause him any more trouble tonight. "No, I can walk. Try and get some sleep, okay?" Sheriff shook his head.

"There is a police enforced curfew right now- I happen to be the Sheriff." He reminded her. "Let me grab my keys. " Mars smiled and nodded in agreement. There was small talk on the car ride, nothing that was really worth remembering. After a quick hug goodbye and one more "Call me if you need anything", Mars hopped out of the car and went inside. At the bottom of the stairs sat A.j.'s backpack, reminding her that _she hadn't checked on him yet. _She tiptoed up the stairs and went to the second door on the right, opening the door slowly. A flashback of when they were little hit her, back when she was afraid of the dark she would always sneak into Aje's room. Up until she was ten she saw A.j. as an invincible superhero, but the roles had reversed since then. "Aje? Aje, you awake?" Mars whispered as she reached the lump on the mattress, he nodded. Mars laid down opposite him, his eyes were bloodshot and swollen. "Did Dad leave yet?" Aje nodded again. He and Grandad had been really close, talked on the phone every single day. "Do you want to talk about it?" A.j. nodded again, taking a minute to find his voice.

"Dad wouldn't let me go to the funeral." He spoke, it wasn't that Sayid wouldn't _let _him go it was that last minute round trip tickets to England were $3,000 and they couldn't afford that for a family of 5.

"Oh, Aje." Mars grabbed his hand, giving it a little squeeze."We can have our own funeral, okay? Tomorrow?" He nodded yet again. "Love you." Mars lips pressed into a thin line as Aje rolled over.

"Love you, too, M'n'm." He mumbled, now facing away from her. She was deeply upset with herself. He'd done so much for her when Claudia had died, and she couldn't even begin to make him smile right now. Why couldn't she think of anything? Why was she blanking?

These were the thoughts that kept her awake nearly all night.

* * *

_Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute? The source, by the way, is right here! _The Doctor unveiled his plan. The three siblings watched the screen without much enjoyment. Nay was watching the show attentively, she hadn't been introduced to Eleven yet. A.j. was laying down looking at the ceiling with his head resting in his sister's lap as she mindlessly played with his curls. Some people might've thought it was weird, but to them it wasn't a big deal.

Mary was the only one in the house who didn't skip school today, none of them wanted to deal with people. The kids held their own little funeral earlier that day, and now they watched Doctor Who, because it was grandpa's favorite. Their mom came home around three, slamming the door behind her and storming up the stairs. None of the siblings cared enough to go upstairs. "Mom's home." Ineas noted, A.j. and Mars looked at their little sister. "It's my turn, isn't it?" Both Mars and Aje nodded even though it was really A.j.'s turn. If Nay didn't go check on her, no one would. So, with a scowl on her face, Ineas followed her mother's path to her room.

Mars waited to hear the door shut upstairs before nudging her brother back into the real world. "You want to go smoke some spliff?" She asked, her brother sat up.

"You know I don't do that." He reminded her his sister.

"Just an offer." She shrugged, pulling the joint out of her bag and a pack of Marlboro's, too. "I have some cigs." She tried, knowing that he'd never been opposed to them even though he probably should've been. Then again, everyone they knew back in England smoked, this whole anti-tobacco thing was very american to them. Aje nodded and took the pack from her hands and grabbed the lighter from her bag. Mars grabbed a couple of blankets off the ottoman, one with a plaid print and the other fuzzy and brown. Silently, the pair went out to the back lawn near the fire pit, it was far enough away from the house mom wouldn't know. Each of them took a seat in separate wooden chairs, Mars taking the furry blanket and Aje taking the plaid. Mars lit up first, Aje scrunched up his nose at the smell before putting a cigarette between his teeth and lighting the end. The stress relief was great. "I gotta get outta here." Mars commented, breaking the silence and shifting a little in the seat. She'd been looking over the back yard and into the woods where she could see no end and she couldn't help but feel trapped, completely confined under her parents roof.

Hearing Mars say that bothered A.j.. He put out his cigarette on the arm of the chair and chucked it, holding out his hand for Mars' spliff, which she handed over gladly. "I don't want you to go." He announced. "I know the only reason you're still here is because of me." It was true though. Mars would've been gone a long time ago if it hadn't been for the love of her big brother. She felt protective over him even though she was younger. Which in a way didn't make much sense, but on the other hand it did. She wanted him to be happy and if that meant taking the fall when he fucked up that was what she was going to do. Of course, Nay would've been there if Mars left, but neither Mars nor A.j. had ever really bonded with her… and they realized that wasn't a good thing.

"Don't flatter yourself, Aje." Mars brushed it off, not willing to admit that he had a 1/4th of her heart. The other three quarters belonging to Scott, Stiles and Sheriff.

"Okay." They fell back into silence for a few minutes. "I wouldn't blame you." Aje spoke up, the worse their parents continued to treat her, the worse he felt about being what anchored her to this house. If it hadn't been for him, maybe she could've been okay… happy even. "I… I'd understand."

Mars scanned his face and took the joint from his hands to take a hit before handing it back to him. "Mixed signals much?" She lit a cigarette of her own, deciding to let him get high by himself. She thought hard on his statement, maybe it was better for him to know. "Aje. You know I love you, right? More than anybody. I won't leave as long as you're here."

"What about when I go to Uni in the fall?" He asked and regretted when he looked over at her. She had a small and sad smile on her face with her eyes glassy and focused on him.

As always, Mars took the time to carefully choose her words. "As long as you're here, I'm here." She smoke out through her nose, she looked like a dragon. Aje thought it was cool, he wanted to learn to do that. "Let's not talk about that, okay?" Mars turned away from the subject of her brother leaving her. "I really can't" Mars looked at him, joint in his mouth and giggled. "The golden boy is smoking spliff." She laughed. "Aren't you scared mum'll smell it." It was highly unlikely that Mary would considering the distance from the house, but she just wanted to psych him out a little.

Her attempt was unsuccessful; "I'll just blame it on you." Aje joked.

"Yeah, sounds about right." She smiled. "I'll accept my fate."

More smoking. "Did you tell anyone yet?"

"No, they all just think it's a normal day." She shrugged. "Well, Sheriff knows, but I don't think that counts." Aje nodded. "You should go talk to him once and a while. He _is_ your godfather."

"I talk to him plenty." He glared. "But you hog Stiles, so I don't really have a reason to go over."

"I do not _hog_ Stiles you twat." Mars glared, her phone went off in her pocket alerting them both that the outside world still existed. "This proves nothing. It's an incoming text." Mars unlocked her phone and blushed.

"It's Stiles, isn't it?" Aje smirked, his point was proven with A+ timing on Stiles' part.

"He wants me to go over. you want to come?" Mars tried to brush it off, reminded that Scott and Allison were out on their double date with Lydia and Jackson. She was SO grateful to have not been roped into that one, especially because Lydia had set it up so she'd have to go with Don, who, by the way, she wasn't speaking to. He'd called and texted several times since the party but she wanted to be clear with him… not saying she wouldn't make a booty call later.

"Nah. I don't want to have to put on a brave face cause you won't tell him." Aje hinted that maybe talking about things with people didn't always have to be a bad thing.

"Fair enough" She agreed and folded the blanket and put it on the chair, she shoved the phone back in her pocket and kissed her big brother on the cheek. "I'll be back, enjoy your joint." She stomped out her cigarette and ruffled his hair before heading off in the direction of the house.

"Can do little sis! Don't get pregnant!" He shouted back at her. She gave him the finger, not going to justify him with any words. He'd thought something was there with her and Stiles for a while now. There was a rumor going around that they were screwing thanks to her shenanigans in the classroom yesterday. Aje was now about 99.97% sure that something was going on between them. If he had to choose someone for his sister, he would've chosen Scott. Scott calmed her down where Stiles only encouraged her.

It took the normal 20 minutes to walk to the Stilinski home, and just as she always did, she let herself in and walked up to Stiles's bedroom. It always amazed her how ADHD he really was, it wasn't even just him anymore, it was painted on his walls. Not literally, but all four walls were painted a different shade of blue or green and the molding on the door and against the walls even different from that. Like he couldn't decide on a color so he just decided to do everything. "Oblivion?" Mars made herself known, commenting on the video game he was way too into. "You do know that that's a singler player?"

"Yes." He mumbled. "One sec, I'm in the arena." Mars sat down beside him and took the controller out of his hand, seeing as he had probably been playing since he got home from school to avoid thinking about the group date.

"And now I am." Mars smirked. "Why the fuck are you not using fire damage and longsword?" She paused and switched his settings, she kicked the opponents ass in a matter of seconds. It's all in the weapons, really. "See."

"Yeah, yeah." He snatched back the controller. "Why weren't you and Aje at school today?"

"Didn't feel like going." Mars lied, Stiles accepted- his dad didn't tell him anything.

"Okay." Stiles tapped his thumb on the controller's side. "Lydia is on that date."

"Why do you say 'Lydia' instead of Scott? _He _is your best friend." Mars pointed out, again being reminded she had to set him up on that damn date that Lydia would never agree to.

"Yeah, but I love Lydia." Mars didn't even suppress her groan and eye roll. "What? I do." He stood his ground. He'd been in love with the strawberry blonde haired goddess for ten years.

"No, Stiles, you can't love someone you've talked to five times in your life. You think she's hot, you don't love her." Any time he'd cried being bitten by the love bug, she reminded him of that. Yes, he liked her. He was mistaking it for love because he felt everything deeply, also, he'd never been in mutual love and he didn't know what that was supposed feel like. She didn't want to belittle his feelings, but when he got like this? It really just ticked her off.

"What do you know." Stiles huffed.

Mars sighed. "A lot more than you."

Stiles changed the subject back; "What's she see in Jackson anyways?"

"Maybe he has a big dick." Mars smirked, always knowing how to get under his skin.

"Who says mine's not… yanno… adequate." Stiles mumbled.

"I've seen you naked like a hundred times now, Stiles." Mars raised an eyebrow, intentionally making him uncomfortable.

"W-what are you saying?" He stuttered. Cause she _had _seen him naked before. Many times. Was he seriously that unappealing?

"Nothing Stiles." Mars smirked, looking at his walls again. It never ceased to amaze her.

"Are you- are you saying I'm tiny?" Stiles subconsciously covered his crotch, he knew she had some sort of opinion- it was just a matter of getting it out of her.

"I said nothing" Mars stood by her original intentions of making him squirm.

"Do you- do you think-" He wasn't really sure what he wanted to ask, so he left the space open for her to fill it with something.

"I've never seen it up, can't say." Mars replied, he wanted to mention class yesterday, but he also had another question;

"Do you want to, um,-" He almost slapped himself for nearly making such a stupid comment. Thankfully, she cut him off. Why couldn't he just filter himself.

"No."

"Okay." They fell in what was to Stiles an awkward silence, Mars on the other hand was just satisfied with herself. "So what's up with you lately?" He scratched the back of his neck as it became clear she wasn't going to speak first.

"What do you mean, what's up with me?" Mars perked up, anxiety etched on her face. This was it, he knew about the blackouts, he knew something was wrong. _He knew, he knew, he knew. _She felt sick, like she was ready to cry and just blurt her every thought out.

Before she could say anything, Stiles shrugged; "Well, you don't ever talk to me anymore."

Mars blinked in his direction a couple of times- was he kidding? Aje thought she was spending too much time here, Stiles apparently thought that it wasn't enough- what exactly was she supposed to do with that? A wave of relief passed over her; He didn't know. She could continue on her her delusion of normalcy for at least a little while longer. "I'm here now."

"Not the same." He shook his head. Admittedly, the time she spent with Stilinski had been cut down by a lot since she'd been back from England. But there was so much she couldn't (a.k.a. chose not) to tell him. "Is it cause Don?" He questioned.

"A little. Yeah." She lied. "Sorry, love. I think that's over anyways." Mars leaned over and kissed his cheek, just to let him know she was back and everything was the same. He nodded.

"Where's Aje?" He was caught by his ADD and remembered that they'd both skipped school.

"Smoking spliff." Mars laughed.

"Yeah, okay. Good one." Stiles didn't believe her for even a second.

Mars laid down. "You have any adderall?" She wanted to do something _fun _for once.

"Is that a real question?" She nodded, holding her hand out in front of him. " "You know where it is, you get it." She rested her hand on top of her stomach, too lazy to go and get it out of his desk drawer.

"I'm hungry, are you hungry?" She asked.

"Yeah. A little bit." He admitted.

"Want me to go get food?"

"I want you to keep me company before I go out of my freaking mind." Stiles went back to playing his video game.

"Dude, Lydia isn't nearly all you've built her up to be." Mars sat up and wrapped her arms around Stiles's torso, hugging him from behind. She kissed him on the cheek again. She'd always been a very physical person, Stiles just smiled a little without taking his eyes away from the game. "And I really don't feel like talking about her… so, I'm going to go now."

"I won't talk about Lydia anymore." He promised, still focused on his game.

"Yes you will."

* * *

Mar walked back into her house, poking her head in A.j.'s room before back heading downstairs. Today had somehow felt entirely too short, like she had somehow been cheated out of a few hours of her life. Dad hadn't called yet, but she wasn't so sure she wanted him to- nor did she think he would. At least Teta would be coming back with him, Teta had a way to make everything better, no matter what it was. The only hope Mars had was that her husbands death didn't change her drastically. **Here's to hoping.**

A hot shower sounded nice. Mars stripped down and turned on the hot water in the bathroom adjacent to her bedroom. She jumped in and scrubbed down, taking her sweet time getting out. Not like anyone was up to yell at her to get out. Unlike the majority, Mars never used her time in the shower to think. Rather, she would sit down in the tub and close her eyes. Water always soothed her, calmed her down, made her feel like she was somewhere and someone else. It was about a half hour of nothingness before she got out and dried off. Shutting off her bedroom lights, Mars dropped her towel on the floor and crawled into bed, Doc slept on the pillow to her right.

Just as she neared the brink of sleep, her window slid open. If she wasn't so tired, she would've cared at least a little."I'm tired, love. Come sleep." Mars waved who she'd assumed to be Stiles over to her. Whatever he wanted to talk about could wait till the morning.

A voice she didn't recognize spoke; "Not Stiles." Mars rubbed her eyes and turned around, shooting up when she saw the dark shadow of a man in her room. She didn't care about her own nudity, she didn't care if they saw, she just wanted to figure out who it was. The man grabbed a shirt off the floor and threw it at her, waiting for her shirt to be on before flicking on the light.

Derek Hale.

Freaking out was an understatement. How did he even know where she lived, let alone know what room was hers- had he been here before? …No, he'd been in jail… where she'd put him… _I'm fucked. _"I'm here to talk, I'm not going to hurt you." Derek held out his arms to say that he came in peace.

Mars kept her eyes glued to him like a hawk. Stiles had said they'd met before- but she couldn't remember that- as far as she knew this was their first meeting. _Oh god._ she thought. _What if I brought him here. _It wasn't an entirely unrealistic theory. The night she couldn't remember, maybe she brought him home and screwed him and that's how he knew right where to go. Of course, she hadn't, but she didn't know that for sure. "Are you going to turn me, too?" Was all she could come up with, it was a rare thing, to be caught off guard. She'd always been a step ahead of everyone… but that was not the case right now.

Derek very nearly rolled his eyes. "I didn't turn Scott." He defended, "And you might want to be a little more on guard, never know when a robber is going to break in." He was a little surprised by the lack of care between Scott and his friends. Especially the non-werewolf girl with a room on the first floor. "Maybe lock it."

"Then how would Stiles get in?" She replied without hesitation. The way it just rolled off the tongue, how she didn't have to think about it startled Derek. He gave her a look of confusion, he thought about the implications… but ultimately couldn't see it. Then again she had invited him to bed when she thought he was Stiles, and she'd been naked… maybe there was something there? He stopped his thoughts, reminding himself that he didn't give a fuck.

"That's not what I am here about."

"Well if you're not here to kill me, or turn me into one of you- then what are you doing here?" Mars shut down, lying back with her hands behind her head. "You're not even dangerous are you?"

"You really think that it's wise to antagonize someone that just a few minutes ago, you were convinced was here to murder you?" Mars shrugged. "I'm here about your boyfriend." Mars propped herself up on her elbows and raised an eyebrow. She didn't have a boyfriend. "The Argent boy."

"Don?" She resisted laughter and then realized Derek had just broken into her house- this was probably important. "Is he okay?"

"He's more than okay." Derek was cranky, Mars again almost laughed at him, but did her damnedest not to. Cranky Derek was kind of funny, the frustration over his handsome features seemed misplaced. "In fact, he was giddy with delight after he smashed in my car**'**s window." The deadpan tone, again, made her think what he was saying was hilarious.

"And why would he do that?" Mars sat up fully and raised an eyebrow; Doc hissed at Derek and curled up in Mars' lap on top of the covers**.**

"Have you really not put it together yet, Moss?" Derek questioned. She had, but she was pretending that she'd never learned he was Allison's cousin and therefore, he couldn't be… well..."He's a hunter."

"Then why are you talking to me and not Scott?" She snapped, she didn't want to be involved in this. Scott was enough, _she _was enough. Another issue on her plate was literally the _last_ thing she needed.

"I need you to keep an eye on him." Derek informed her with his no-nonsense attitude.

"And why would I do that?" Getting in deeper with Don really wasn't on her agenda. She'd just told him off a few days ago, told him he would never have a chance with her. That her intentions were really rather shit. Its not like she could just go back on that even if she was willing to help.

"I heard about your blackouts," Derek taunted, a cunning smirk on his lips that held some sort of hidden meaning. Mars began to panic before she even heard the words that would follow. He'd figured it out, he'd confirmed her suspicions. There was something wrong, really, really wrong with her. She was like them, if not _one_ of them. But she couldn't remember being bit or anything that would have caused all the changes that were happening to her. She looked up at Derek, trying desperately not to let him know that she needed answers from him. "Might want to watch your back."

"Is that a threat?" Mars asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She was sure that she wasn't afraid of Derek, but she didn't take too kindly to threats. Also, it provided a good mask. If Derek thought that she was just going to sit and wait for him to kill her, he had another thing coming to him.

"It's a warning**,**"He answered in a flat tone, not giving any hints to his meaning or what knowledge he held. "Lock your window." And with that, Derek Hale left in the same way he'd came. Silent and with the upper hand.


	6. Aprons Don't Suit You

**Beast of Burden**

**Chapter Six**

**Aprons Don't Suit You**

* * *

"_The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea." _

― _Vladimir Nabokov_

There was a rapping on the front door. Mars turned off the stove and put the half-assed eggs on a different burner. Aje could wait. "Allison, hi?" Mars said when she opened the door. School wasn't out already, was it? Allison smiled. "Come in?" Mars offered opening the door wide enough for her to step through. Judging by the folders in her hands, she was coming by with coursework.

"Um. Mr. Harris said you might be out for a couple days." Allison informed, handing over the folder. She looked around a little at the living room. It was really messy, something Allison wasn't used to. Mary said she was going away for a couple of days without bothering to tell anyone _where _exactly she was jetting off to, and Sayid was back in England for a little. The mess wasn't anything dramatic- just pizza boxes and dirty plates, unfolded blankets, and one too many ashtrays- but it was drastically different from the uptight house her parents kept. Mars herself was looking a little more disheveled than normal. Her hair was pulled back into a haphazard bun on top of her head, she was barefaced and only in a stained oversized tee shirt. "You okay?"

Mars nodded. "Yeah, I just wasn't expecting company." She noted, embarrassed. "Sorry about the smoke. Parents aren't supposed to be home for a few days." Mars put out the cigarette that was leaned against one of the ash trays, she cleared the pizza boxes. She'd let everything slide and this right now was exactly why she never did that. The stress cleaning started. "Make yourself at home."

"It's alright, Mars." Allison sat down, patting the seat beside her, Mars took the spot, folding her hands on her lap. "I don't know what happened, but I'm here- if you need to talk…" Allison suggested, a little nervous about the offer considering they weren't the closest of friends. "I know we only met, like, two weeks ago? But talking always helps me." She paused, "So. Yeah. I'm here."

"Uh. Thanks." Mars smiled a little. "That's really sweet." She was becoming more and more of a fan of Allison everyday. "Well, uh, now that you're here maybe we can hang out?" Mars suggested.

Allison's dimples showed as she smiled wide. "Yeah! That'd be cool."

"Erm…" Mars drifted. _What do people do when they hang out? _She gave up rather quickly. "I have video games and food?" Allison bit the inside of her lip, obviously trying to hide that she didn't think that sounded very fun. "Thought you might prefer it to smoking and reading in silence. Besides, I can teach you how to play League of Legends…" Mars paused. "It's Scott's favorite, you can impress him with it."

"Oh, um." Allison shied away, "You don't need to do that."

"I insist." Mars stood and began to walk towards her bedroom. "Well, are you coming?" She asked. Snow White got up and followed. When the door was opened, Allison had to admit the room wasn't quite what she imagined. She kind of pictured everything being black and smoke wafting around, maybe a poster or two. She'd expected clothes lying about and an unmade bed. But the bedroom was none of those things. Mars walked over to her bed and powered on the laptop sitting on it. "It's got a few viruses, so…. It'll be just a second." Mars picked up Doc off her papasan chair and took his place, letting him sit in her lap and purr.

With some hesitation Allison sat down in the cloud of white that was supposed to be a bed, but it was way too soft for her. "Uh… it looks like the computer is on."

"There's no password, just click the icon for the game." Mars kissed the top of Docs head, she loved this fat old fluff ball. Allison did as she was told. Mars wasn't really sure what she was doing. The last time they'd hung out, she'd had an objective. Find shit out for Scott. Now she was just… Eh. Other than moving a lot as kids, they didn't have much in common other than Scott.

There was shuffling outside the bedroom window, Allison glanced over, Mars ignored it. "Mars!" Stiles shouted, falling off the ledge to her room when he couldn't open up the window with ease. "Mars!" He knocked on the glass. Annoyed, she got up and opened it, waiting for him to climb in. "Since when the hell did you start locking your window?" He exasperated, tripping over his own feet and using her to steady himself.

"Since last night." Mars noted. "Do you need something?" She still had her cat in her arms, it was almost as if he'd fallen asleep.

"Uh, no?" Stiles saw the form of someone sitting on the bed, and thought it best to lie.

"Then what are you doing here?" Mars put Doc back in his seat.

Stiles looked over at Allison on the bed, he really just wanted to fill Mars in on everything- but Allison sitting there was going to prevent that from being feasible. Of course though, his mouth was ahead of his mind and he didn't have time to come up with a reasonable excuse before words flew out of him. "Uh, nothing, what are you doing here?"

Mars turned her head to the side a bit. What she wouldn't give to hit him. "What am I doing here? In my room?"

"Yeah." He scratched the back of his neck, his nervous habit when he didn't know quite what to do with his hands. He looked at Allison again, waving awkwardly. He really did always make these situations worse for himself."There is just some stuff… that I need to talk to you about." He cleared his throat. "Important stuff about me and you and-"

"Can you please stop talking." Mars cut him off before he could make things sound even worse."How about you use the door like a normal person?"

"I haven't used the door since I was thirteen." He'd stated as if it was nothing at all.

"Why don't you go hang out with Aje? Yeah? Sound good?" Mars suggested, getting antsy. "He's in his room, go wank or whatever it is you do," and she ushered him out to the hallway.

"But-" Mars shut the door in his face, she shook her head before turning back to Allison.

Mars sat back in her chair. "Sorry about him."

"So am I gonna get an explanation to that or are you just going to leave me with my imagination?" Allison raised an eyebrow. She'd been telling herself she wasn't going to ask… but… it was all a bit too tempting after that.

"To what?" Mars asked, knowing exactly what Allison was getting at- "Stiles?" Mars laughed, her cool, unanxious demeanor pulled off sincerity. It was a specialty to put it simply. "Like that'd ever happen."

"So… it's not a thing?" Allison questioned.

Mars took a moment to string together words in her head. "No, I mean, Stiles is great and all, but he's like my brother. In fact, he and my brother are essentially the same person now that I think of it."

Al seemed to of dropped any modesty, curiosity overtook her. "Don said that you dumped him for Stiles." She tried to lead the conversation, it didn't go unnoticed, but it did go unannounced.

Mars tensed at the mention of Snow White's cousin. She still hadn't seen a werewolf shift, however, she imagined Derek to be massive and demonic as a wolf. She really didn't want to test him, she had to figure out some way to get Don back in the palm of her hand. "Don?" Allison nodded. "I'm going to fucking kill him. I am literally going to kill him."

"Is it true?"

"No, it's definitely not true. However, I am going to go have a word with him tonight." That gave her a few hours to come up with a game plan.

"Okay… Well it seemed like Stiles had something he needed to tell you, so maybe I should get going?" Allison continued to test the waters.

Much to Allison's dismay, Mars didn't entertain the implication game girls their age were so fond of. "Uh, yeah. I guess. Another time then?" She suggested.

"Of course." Allison stood and opened the bedroom door, Stiles hadn't moved from when Mars had shut it on him, the only change was him tapping his foot against the floor repeatedly. When he realized the door was open he pushed past Allison and closed the door behind him, leaving Allison on the other side to show herself out. It seemed like Mars couldn't care less about that, she was a shit host anyways, no need to pretend otherwise.

"Dude, we really need to talk." Stiles announced, throwing his arms out by his sides.

"Fucking hell, Stiles." Mars folded her arms against her chest."Could you be any _less_ smooth?"

"Excuse you, I am smooth as a baby's butt."

"More like crunchy peanut butter. What's so important?"

Stiles looked at her for a moment, narrowing his eyes just a smidge before laying down on her bed. If you could call it laying, it was more like he collapsed onto it and landed on his back. "So, don't hurt me, okay? This is the first chance either of us has had to get over here. But. Uh… Okay. So we have a problem."

Mars shifted awkwardly where she stood, her mind wandering back to when Derek stood in the same spot she was in last night. "Yeah, I got that."

"We kinda know now that Derek didn't turn Scott."

"Yeah, I know." She slipped. It flew over his head.

"Right, so I guess it was an Alpha of some sort? Well, at least I think he said Alpha. And anyways, whatever. The problem is it can call Scott out against his will and we don't know who it is or how to stop it and I guess Derek said it wants Scott to be part of his pack or something? I don't know." He shook his head. "Wait, did you saw you know?" Mars stayed silent. "Scott texted you? Yeah, I guess that would've been a smarter, faster way of going about things."

Mars shook her head. "Yes, it would've. But…" she turned towards her vanity and began to pretend like she was looking for something to seem busy. "Erm- Derek told me" Stiles looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "He stopped by last night."

Stiles felt something rather strange twist in his stomach, before he'd known it he was on his feet and standing behind her- completely unaware of 'personal space'. "Why? What did he say? Other than the whole not changing Scott thing." Mars turned her body around, leaning her bum against the edge of her vanity, Stiles was far too close, but it wasn't anything unordinary for him.

She studied him carefully, she felt an overwhelming urge to bop him on the forehead so his eyes might go back to their normal size. She was at a dilemma, tell him the truth or pile on the lies? For once, she made the right choice. "Don is a hunter, I guess."

"W-what?" He stuttered. "You found this out last night and you're just telling me now?!" Mars _almost_ pointed out his double standard, but refrained. "What the hell, Mars!"

"Look, I'll keep an eye on him, okay? Don't _worry_ about it." She stressed, she'd been doing more than enough worrying for the both of them.

"I'm gonna worry about it." He announced, throwing his arms out by his sides, Mars pushed past him. "Why did Derek tell you and not Scott anyways?" Stiles followed her, making her overly anxious.

"You're asking me?" She laughed.

"The dude's a creep!" Stiles exclaimed, still following her as she moved around the room.

She sat down on her bed, shaking her leg. She needed to be moving, but Stiles' hounding was making her more nervous than she was already. So much for pushing everything down till they couldn't be found. "Says the one who is shocked that a window was locked." She rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fair point. But what are we doing about it?" He inquired, standing in front of her at a comfortable distance now.

"_**We**_ are not doing anything." She snapped. He needed to back the fuck off. "Derek came to me, it's on my shoulders. Just focus on getting Scott under control, okay?"

"Um, _no_ not at all okay!" He scoffed. "That's kind of a big thing, Mar!" he exploded. Why was she not freaked out? This was like- a seriously freak out worthy thing. Especially because she was _sober_, like 1542% sober. Or she was playing it off well. Maybe she wasn't. Stiles never really knew anymore.

"Stiles, stop flailing for a second and look at me." Mars snapped, stood, and held his spastic arms against his sides, steadying him. She looked him in the eyes, willing him to mellow out. And he did. Stiles felt a sudden wave of calm flow over him as he looked into the seas of blue. Like she'd hypnotized him. When she spoke, she didn't break eye contact; "This one isn't about you. It's not for you to worry about." She spoke, her raspy voice more soothing than normal. "Derek told me because I have a relationship with Don. I have an in. I can protect Scott, throw him off his trail." Mars lied, she knew the real reason Derek came to her. It was because he knew something was wrong, because he thought she was suspicious, that she might be one of them. Sure, her- erm, friendship with Don could have been a factor. When it was boiled down though? It was meant as a threat. "So calm down."

"I guess that makes sense." Stiles nodded, she looked down. Mars felt a stab of guilt, looking him in the eye and lying to him- she knew it was becoming too easy. Without notice, Mars wrapped her arms around Stiles and buried her head against his chest; pulling him into a much needed but very unexpected hug. Yet again, she wanted to tell him everything and found herself unable to. That she thought she could be the alpha, that Derek had told her because he could take advantage of that, that she wasn't in school because grandad died, that she was sorry for keeping so much from him. He returned the hug, still confused. Even after he let go, Mars still clung to him. "Okay then." He mumbled, placing his arms back around her. "You- uh- you okay?" She nodded and let go. "You sure? You don't seem all that okay."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Mars noted, stepping back. "I just gotta go take care of some stuff." She grabbed a pair of jeans from her closet and pulled them up, tucking in the front of the oversized tee she was wearing. "You can hang out here if you want… I'll be back soon."

* * *

Mars breathed in the frigid air and hopped out of her brothers truck, taking the keys with her. She wasn't planning on taking too long, he wouldn't even notice that it was gone. She took in her surroundings, not entirely sure Danny had given her the right address. She was in a trailer park, the majority of it run down. There were a few double wides scattered throughout but this wasn't one of them. it had white paneling, maybe to make it look more like a house especially considering the wood paneling hiding the wheels. There was also a ramp leading up to a handmade looking porch. It was still run down.

After checking the address one last time, Mars trekked up the ramp and knocked on the metal door. Yup, this was his house. Joyce stood in front of her, glaring down at her, what was the Moss girl doing here? No one came here. "Miss Moss, lovely." She nearly scowled. Her red hair was pulled back into an uptight ponytail to reveal her rather harsh features. Mars could definitely see Joyce's resemblance to her sister, Victoria. And being reminded of Victoria, Mar thought of Allison's house and how huge and beautiful it was. It didn't seem fair, for this to be the same family. "Don's not here at the moment."

"His car's in the driveway." Mars gestured over her shoulder to the green 97' Honda Accord. "So, are we going to play dumb here or are you going to let me in?" Mars didn't bother with formalities, especially not with Joyce.

Joyce reluctantly opened the door a little wider and stepped to the side, knocking on the door directly to her left. "Don, your girlfriend is here." Don walked out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee in his hands. He wasn't sure who his mom was talking about, then he saw her. She waltzed down the hallway and went in the only open door (not that there were many to choose from, only three. A bathroom, Don's room, and his mothers).

"Well, well if it isn't Mars." Don commented and shut his bedroom door behind him."What brings you out to the poor side of town?" Really, he just wanted to know how she'd found out where he lived. It wasn't quite something he boasted about.

Mars crossed her arms. "You didn't answer your phone." She looked around, feeling a little claustrophobic. He'd put a full sized bed in his room and it didn't leave much room for anything else. At the foot there was a desk with a chair, both crammed in the small space just before the wall with the door. and there was only maybe a little under two feet between his bed and the wall to the left, his dresser was stuffed inside his closet.

"I wasn't aware I had an obligation to." Don, mimicked her and folded his arms over his chest, (but not before running his hands through his too-long hair to stop it from falling in his face.).

She hesitated. "You don't."

"Okay, so again. Why are you here exactly?" Don repeated, still not having figured it out. She'd literally never sought him out. Ever. Unless you count messages that said **my house in 10**, or things like that… but those were just to fuck.

"I wanted to… erm… accept that offer." Mars shifted, uncrossing her arms because it felt like her body language wasn't too convincing. "For a date."

Don expected his heart to leap or some bullshit like that- hearing her say she wanted him. But unfortunately, he didn't buy it, no matter how badly he wanted to. "You've got to be kidding me right now." Mars shook her head. "I think you made it pretty clear how you felt about that," he reminded her.

"I had a change of heart." Don had to resist rolling his eyes, she wanted something, he just didn't know what it was.

"I genuinely doubt that."

Mars groaned; "Do you want to go out to dinner or not?"

"No."

"Seriously?" Mars had never been rejected by him before, or rather anyone before, and she didn't like the feeling. "Back to the old arrangement then?" Don shook his head. "Well I didn't drive all the way over here for nothing." She snapped at him.

"You don't have a licence." He raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly." She noted, reminding herself she hadn't gone there for his sake, she'd gone to find something to make her believe Derek 100%. She looked around the small room, there had to be _something_. A gun maybe? A note? The only thing of even remote intrigue that she found was a couple of pamphlets sticking out of his binder. Don followed her eyes and scratched the back of his neck when she snatched them up. "Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth?" She read, flipping through them. "Dreaming big now are we?"

"It's better than not dreaming at all." He noted. "Besides, I've got the grades. I just have to keep them up."

"Really? You? You have the grades?" Mars laughed, if she didn't have the grades, he definitely didn't.

"Yes." Don repeated, nonchalant. She was facing away from him.

"You really can't wait to get out of here, huh?" He didn't respond. "Understood." Mars turned to face him, holding out the flyers in front of her. "So, which one is your top pick?" Don picked out the green paper on the left and handed it back to her when she chucked the other two.

"They're a lacrosse school, so I think I can get a scholarship." He knew he'd never be able to afford an ivy-league without a scholarship, he wasn't stupid. Not only was Dartmouth his first choice anyways, but they were the only one who really gave any shits about sports. So, small town life in New Hampshire was what he was shooting for.

"What do you want to study?"

"Either biochemistry or molecular biology."

Mars's brows knit together, creating creases in her otherwise smooth forehead. "What are you gonna do? Cure cancer?"

"That's the plan, yeah." Mars put the pamphlet back with the others.

"Oh, you've got it all figured out then?"

Don looked her over for a second."Not everything."

Mars sat on his bed, it was just as comfortable as it looked- not very. "So tell me something, Don. Why have we never talked before?"

"Not exactly on your list of priorities."

"Yeah, but I mean, we've chatted. I feel like I know nothing about you."

"That's because you don't." He sat down beside her.

Suddenly defensive, Mars said; "Well its not like you know anything about me either."

Really, he didn't. Well, he didn't know anything from being told. So he racked his brain for things he'd put together just to spite her. "Your favorite color is red." It was the color of her bedroom. "Favorite movie though you'd never admit it is Casablanca, considering you've made me watch it 10 times, you're not a big fan of your parents, but who can blame you." That was an easy one to figure out. "Your favorite author is George Orwell, with Adolfus Huxley being a close second." They were the novels he'd seen her with most frequently. "You don't know where you want to go to college or if you do, but you know you'd like to be a writer." That one was just intuition. "Your brother is your favorite person in the world and you don't remember your little sister exists sometimes." Also obvious, considering she hardly ever mentioned Ineas. "Oh, and I'm about 86% sure you don't know how to pronounce your first name." He smirked, he'd never once heard her say it- the only person he'd ever heard it from was Stiles, who shouted it down the hallway last year.

Mars didn't know how to respond, because he was right on all counts. "When did I say any of that?"

"You didn't have to." He replied. "You're a lot easier to figure out than you think." He smirked again. He liked being the know-it-all manipulating the situation, considering he was so rarely on that side of things. "You're not some grand, mysterious puzzle to be solved, so stop acting like it." He knocked Mars's ego down quite a few pegs, leaving her thinking, _am I really like that? Do I really do that?_ "I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated is all." He sighed when he saw her looking as close to hurt as he would probably ever see her.

"No, I get it." Mars stood. "I guess I should go then?" She gestured towards the door.

Don realized he didn't want her to go, he'd just wanted to get a reaction out of her. "What? Without making my mom's head spin around?" The cover up was a bit lame, but it was the best that he could do to keep her around. It was selfish of him, to use Mars' dislike of his mom, but he couldn't help himself - when it came to her, he couldn't help but be selfish. He gave her a charming smile, stood up, and wrapped an arm around her waist. He pressed his forehead against hers. It was awkward, not something that he'd usually do with her- but it felt like he needed to show her that he wanted her to stay without using words. Words messed things up, and their relationship - if that's what you'd call what was going on between them - didn't need to get any messier.

"You've gotta be joking." Mars smiled up at him, she knew that her mood shouldn't be so easily changeable, but it was. She'd never admit it, ever, but the cheesy gesture was kinda sweet.. kinda. Mar responded by placing her hand at the nape of Don's neck, pulling him in and kissing him hotly while her free hand ran through his hair. Don's fingers pulled at the bottom of her shirt as she raised her arms for him, the shirt coming off in one swoop. She laced a finger through his belt loop, pulling him towards her when she sat on the bed- sultry was the only way he could describe her expression.

This time was different for the two of them. Things had been weird for too long, and it had felt like ages since they'd had a good fuck. So, neither of them bothered taking off all their clothes, just the necessities. Even though she knew it was wrong, comparing people, Mars felt like Watson hadn't quite been up to par with what she was used to. He didn't have the stamina Don had, turned out she missed the longevity. And while they were at it, Mars made sure to be extra loud, just to bother Joyce; she really hated that woman. And the best way to piss off the woman you hated was to fuck her son - almost like a revenge fuck. Though not quite- yanno, unless the kids Oedipus complex was more than just a complex.

Almost immediately after they were done, Mars was putting herself back together, ready to go. "Why don't you stay for a little?" Don grabbed her arm, still laying on his bed, pulling her back towards him. Mar avoided eye contact, she'd already fucked up the reason she came here. Information. About his family. She was leaving with what she came with in relevance to things that actually mattered. Though, by staying that would give her extra time, wait for him to fall asleep… have a look around… but was she really willing to deal with the pillow talk? Embarrassment passed over his features ever so slightly. "Unless we're still not doing that sort of thing." Mars rolled her eyes at him, but didn't shake his grip. After silently weighing her pros and cons, she hit him on the arm, telling him to scoot over. She laid down beside him once he did and curled up against him, wondering if this meant she still had to go on the date.

"So what car did you drive here anyways?" Don asked.

"Aje's truck." Don laughed.

"He actually let you drive that thing? It's like his child."

"I didn't say I asked." Mars admitted. Don shook his head and relaxed, this felt nice.

Mars woke up the next morning, feeling relatively well rested. When she fell asleep she wasn't certain, but she wasn't as uncomfortable as she thought she would've been. Lifting her head off the pillow, she looked around, Don was gone. So she pulled out her phone and looked at her messages. Don messaged her that he'd gone to class and she could let herself out. Which was so incredibly convenient she honestly couldn't believe her luck.

She slipped out of the bed and began to look around what little space the room had. The closet was clear. So was under the bed. Mars sat down in his desk chair and began rummaging through his drawers as silently as she could.

Her heart felt like it stopped, _Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent _was engraved on top of a polished oak box. Even though her french wasn't quite A+ material these days, it wasn't that hard to translate. _We hunt those who hunt us._ Mars's hand hovered over the metal latch. Every muscle in her body tensed when she looked back over her shoulder for the Argent-by-marriage still sleeping. Even though he wasn't there, she felt rather paranoid. Which she scolded herself for. Scott was rubbing off on her.

Inside the box was a colt, real old school and a stupid amount of ammunition. The bullets all had a crest on them, of a lions head. They were beautiful, and likely rather time consuming. Mars took a picture of them, and then of the box, and put it back safe and sound.

Mars got up, and walked out of the trailer, zooming past Don's silently judgemental parents (which was a little unfortunate because she would have loved to piss off Joyce a little more). When she reached the drivers side of Aje's truck the constricting feeling in her chest took over. She pressed her back against the door and tried to breath, but it came out a dry heave. Her hands were resting on her knees to support her weight. She felt sick. So fucking sick. It was real, it was all real. Scott, Don… herself? Whatever she might be. More than anything she wanted to talk to Derek, to ask him what he knew, if he could help her- but she saw that going sour real fucking fast.

She felt her breakfast rising back up, before she could stop it everything in her stomach was on the ground in front of her. Don had probably killed someone by now. Someone like Scott. Scott never hurt anyone, fuck, up until last year he'd made her kill spiders. Mars wiped her mouth with her sleeve and opened the trucks door, getting in and turning on the ignition with a shaky hand. Did Don know about Scott? Did he know about Derek? What about the alpha?

Feeling another wave of panic coming, Mars closed her eyes and pressed her head against the steering wheel, breathing heavily to steady her erratic heartbeat. What if _she _was the alpha? Even if she swore she could remember that night, who knew anymore? Everything was so blurry, so clouded it was like fantasy was reality and reality just a fallacy.

* * *

The Moss house was pristine when Mars walked back through the door. She walked a little slower, Aje and Nes wouldn't do that, would they? Well, Aje for sure wouldn't.

"Aje? Nay?" Mars called out into the house, the smell of cigarettes, pot, and booze still lingered a little- but the smoke was gone. Stiles ran out of the kitchen, waving at her with big yellow rubber gloves going about halfway up his forearm and a silly panda apron tied over his hoodie. "What. The fuck. Are you doing?" Mars held the bridge of her nose, she just didn't even know anymore.

"To be fair, I objected." Stiles pointed at the kitchen, his face desperately trying to hide the joy his eyes gave away.

"Objected?" Mars raised an eyebrow and looked up from her hand.

"Stilinski boy, did I say stop scrubbing?" Mars heard a thick Egyptian accent laced with years and years of rasp from smoking a pack a day.

Mars burst out into a smile, a real one. "Teta!" she shouted, dropping her keys and running into the kitchen, she wrapped her arms around the plump elderly woman, being overwhelmed by the scent of mhur and tobacco.

"Habibti, you're late." Teta held Mars at arms length.

"'ana 'asfa." Mars slipped back into Arabic with ease, it was all the grandkids used to speak to her when they were little… except Mars… who didn't really speak any real language for a bit there. "I missed you."

"Tara, darling, it's been two weeks, surely you didn't miss me that much." Stiles had followed Mars in, he almost cringed when she was called Tara. It just didn't sound right at all. Mars. She was Mars. The only Mars… well, other than the planet.

"Well, I- I missed you, Teta." Stiles tried, maybe he'd get out of more chores that way.

Teta stared at him at him for a moment; "Dishes, Stiles."

"On it." He saluted with a sigh, leaving the two ladies with the shared name to talk.

"How are you doing, love?" Teta, cupped Mars's face, not really giving her much wiggle room. "You look stressed." Mars nearly groaned. If she was blunt… Teta was just in a class of her own. "And you smell terrible. Like sex and vomit."

"I'm fine." Mars feigned a smile. Trying to ignore the comment. "What about y-"

"Bull shit, tell the truth." Teta cut her off, liking to think she had a radar for these things.

"So, when did you get in?" Mars changed subjects.

"Three hours ago, and where have you been?" The once stunning beauty crossed her arms.

"At my boyfriends." Mars lied. Maybe not entirely, she wasn't sure where she stood with good old Donald.

They heard a pot _clank_ into the sink. Stiles cleared his throat; "I'm good." He announced, he really needed to be less obvious with his eavesdropping.

"Then why'd I find Stiles sleeping in your bed? Remember what I told you?" That explained it, why he'd been cleaning.

"Never in the same town." Mars smirks. "But, alas, Stiles is my brother."

"Were you gone overnight?"

"Is Da back, too?" Again, she tried to deflect the attention off of herself.

"No, he's not, but don't change the subject."

"Yeah, I was gone overnight." Mars glared over at Stiles, who suddenly began to try and make himself look busy. "But you knew that already, didn't you?"

* * *

**A/N: I apologise for having to use the phonetic spellings for the arabic used, The website wouldn't support the switch!**


	7. Family Matters

**Beast of Burden**

**Chapter Seven**

**Family Matters**

* * *

"_those who escape hell, however,_

_never talk about it, and nothing much_

_bothers them after that." _

― _Charles Bukowski_

From the time she'd turned thirteen, Mars had been a habitual joy ride taker. She'd gotten surprisingly good at it, and fortunately for her, the big 16 was only a few weeks away. Not many chances left to get in trouble.

Mars ran out of the Stilinski house with the cruiser keys in hand and a wide smile spread across her face. She unlocked it, jumped in and turned the key; the engine roared to life. Sheriff wasn't all that far behind her. He knocked on the window, she rolled it down. "Do you _really_ want to add grand theft auto and _another _driving without a licence charge to your record, sweetheart?" he asked.

Mars batted her long eyelashes."Oh come on, Sher, it's not like you'd rat on me." She smirked her signature, smug little smirk. Confidence radiated off of her, convinced he'd let her get away with murder if need be- and she was probably right. Something about the way she'd said it got under Sheriff's skin. He needed to get her off that high horse she was sitting on, he just didn't know how. "Besides, its not theft if you're in the car and well aware." Sheriff stared at her, waiting for her to move. Mars licked her lips, waiting for him to waver. He didn't. "Fine." She rolled her eyes and got out, Sheriff took her place in the drivers seat.

"Look, Mars, you know I love you like my own, but you gotta pull your act together." Mars glared at him, he was supposed to be the one who** didn't **say that shit. "I don't mean it like that." She switched from glaring to averting her eyes, ignoring him. She immediately became lost in her own thoughts, questions spiraling around her. _What did I do? Why is he saying this?_ She didn't know how to deal with a constant becoming variable… Change was… in a word? The enemy. And there was way too much fucking **change** happening around her right now. The one thing, _the one thing _she was always going to count on was Sheriff. She'd probably break completely, shatter, even, if someone took him away from her. "I'm just trying to say there are only so many strings I can pull before people take notice, kid." She still wasn't looking at him. He tapped his thumb against the top of the steering wheel a few times and looked ahead, unable to bear her silence. "Marks? Remember him? He's not letting it go." Sheriff tried to recover. "Just- behave. Even if it's only for a little."

Mar glanced back up at him, he let out a breath- at least she wasn't so upset she couldn't look at him… but he knew he'd said the wrong things. "I won't make any promises." Sheriff pressed his thumb and index finger against the bridge of his nose. "I love you." Mar smiled and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled a little, believing her, but doing his best not to excuse her.

* * *

"Have you seen Scott?" Stiles ran up to Mar in the hallway, clapping a hand down on her shoulders to stop himself from falling.

"Not since this morning." She continued on without so much as looking back at him.

"Have you tried calling him?" Stiles questioned, sounding annoyed.

"It's second period? Why? Is he not here?" She didn't seem to care all that much.

"Well he wasn't in class." Stiles informed her, over-expressing with his entire body as he so frequently did.

"He wasn't?"

"No." She seemed to be walking faster, Stiles struggled to keep up. "Wh- where are you going?"

"Home?" Mars rolled her eyes. She wasn't feeling today, it hadn't been going that well so far.

"Why?"

"Because I don't feel like going to mom's class?"

"Yeah, but it's your _mom's_ class. She'll know you're not sick."

With a condescending expression, Mars stopped, turned around and faced Stiles. "And since when have I given a fuck what she does or thinks?"

"Never I guess…" He drifted. Scott was MIA and Mars was being a bitch. Perfect. "But come on. Don't leave me alone in there, I'm going to die without you, it's _math_. Your _mom's _math!" He tried. Mary was a notoriously tough teacher, to everyone.

"So skip with me, we can go catch a movie, get some food."

"I can't, conferences are tonight." He reminded her. "Stop giving me that look."

"What look." It wasn't a question.

"That look! The one that's all 'yeah? and?'. It literally makes me so angry." He threw his arms out towards her shoulders, but refrained from grabbing them by scrunching his hands into fists on either side of her head. "Use your words every once and a while would you?" The bell began to rang. "Lets just go to class." Mars walked towards the front door. "I'm not following you!" Stiles shouted after her. "I'm not that easy!" He waited for her to turn around and make a comment at the least. "God damnit."He tapped his foot against the ground before chasing after her. "One more class, then we go." He tried. "Fine, go without me." He continued shouting after her, waiting a second once she was through the doors before heading to class.

It took about an hour for Mars to walk home and get in the door. She went through the kitchen and dropped her bag on the bed before pulling _The Bell Jar _out from the box under her bed. Some faint footsteps could be heard outside her room, but she assumed it was Teta.

When she was about halfway through the novel, she became decidedly hungry. She made her way to the kitchen. Mars lost her appetite the second her bare feet hit the marble tile.

She let **it** go on for a second before she said anything,** it** took a moment to comprehend.

"Da?" Mars pulled Sayid's attention away from the blonde skank he was balls deep in. "What. The. Fuck." Her heart dropped. Well, maybe not her heart. Her stomach did. But her heart? It didn't break, Mars would never let it. All the cracks her father, and all the other men in her life had put in the muscles surface were now gone. Instead of breaking, it blackened, it callused. Mars' heart and hopes would never hurt her again.

"Mars, sweetheart, I can explain." Sayid tried as he pulled his pants up. His daughter backed away from him. Mars may have hated her mother, but did her dad hate Mary, too? Were things between her parents really so bad? But more importantly, why did he have to do this _in her family's home_?!

She wanted to scream, she wanted to hit something. Anything. "Don't bother, Sayid." Mars spat. She'd never called him by his first name, not once. A surge of energy coursed through her when the two syllables passed through her lips. She half expected him to slap her, she almost wanted him to.

"I am your father, you will speak to me with respect." He knew he'd slipped as soon as he said it, just made his situation worse. He was in a state of panic, A.j. had known for weeks, but Mars? He couldn't bribe her to keep her mouth shut like he could with his son. This was the end of the line. In his head, he already started making plans.

"How can I when you lost any respect you ever had?" Mars pointed out, her demeanor hard, cold- even for her. Sayid was surprised she was speaking at all, also a little horrified. It was terrible, that he would wish her silent. That he would wish his own flesh and blood couldn't speak even after he'd seen the silent struggle of her youth. Yet, something in him was willing her to go back to speaking Martian, that strange gibberish tongue no one but the Stilinski kid ever understood. "Don't fucking speak to me again, got it?" She threatened. Her dad looked back at his mistress, then back at Mars.

"Understood" he agreed. Mars nearly spat in his face. Was he fucking serious right now? What was so fucking great about blondie's cunt that he would pick her over his own family?

"I'll be going now." Mars went into her bedroom and packed a bag. Enough for a week, the pre-packed wouldn't be enough. She knew Stiles wouldn't mind her staying there. It was almost time he was out of school anyways. He had the jeep, so by the time she walked there he would be home. Right? It didn't matter. She had a key anyways. Mars pat her cat. "Sorry, Doc."

She thought about the fact that she'd be leaving A.j. alone before she slammed the door behind her, but she couldn't stand being in that house for a second longer. Not even for the only man she was certain she could ever fully love.

Neither car was in the driveway of the Stilinski house, so she let herself in, going right for the medicine cabinet. She didn't know what it was she needed, but she needed something. Anything. There was some vicodin, and that seemed to be the only thing worth grabbing among all the advil and non-drowsy tylenol.

* * *

_What do I want for lunch?_ Sheriff asked himself while walking through his front door. He had half of a sub left over from a few nights ago, so he thought maybe he should finish that up before it went bad. Normally he would have stayed at the station, brought food with him, but to be honest- he needed out of there for a few. Too much was going on.

He grabbed the sandwich and unwrapped it. The sub was a little soggy, but still edible for the most part. It was then the smell hit him. It was faint, but enough to notice, and he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. He went upstairs, Stiles didn't smoke pot? At least, he didn't _think _his son did. In fact this was a conversation he hadn't quite prepared himself to have. When he opened the unlocked door smoke wafted around him. Mars was laying on her back in silence, looking at the ceiling, a bowl in one hand and lighter in the other. One of his old prescription bottles was open and spilling out on the bed beside her; He didn't want to know how many she took.

Mars had heard him come in, but she didn't acknowledge him at all. Just lit up again. "Fuck, kid." Sheriff breathed in the hot boxed air and approached her, cleaning up the pills in silence because he had no idea what to say. This was a new level of bold, even for her. She had to know she would get caught, there was no way she didn't _want _to get caught when she did this. He took the lighter and the bowl right out of her hands.

"Give it back." Mars squeaked holding out her hand, he looked at her completely and utterly astonished. "Give it back." Her voice cracked at the end. "This is the only way I can get away from- the only way I can handle… Don't take it away from me." She began crying, he still wouldn't give the weed back to her.

All Sheriff could see was the three year old version of Mars when he looked at her most of the time. With the bright smile and untouched by life. Today was different. Today he saw a shell, a girl who was battered, broken, desperate. He wondered what happened, how he could make his little girl happy again. So he made the decision to be a father before he was Sheriff yet again. A decision that he was bound to keep making, and a decision that would inevitably cost him dearly. "Dad's fucking some blond nurse bitch." Mars spat and wiped her nose with her sleeve. "Just- just why?" Her voice cracked yet again. "Why am I not good enough, not enough?" Sheriff sat beside her and pulled her into a tight side hug, trying to form words. But what could _possibly _be said?

"Mom hates me, I'm an afterthought to my dad, a burden he doesn't want to bear." She pulled a cigarette from her pack on the nightstand and tried to light it, but Sheriff took that from her too. It seemed like she didn't notice. "I just want to know what I did, I don't understand. Maybe if I just- If someone could just tell me where I fucked it all up I can fix it. I know I can change. If I could fix things I could change."

"Kid, look at me." Sheriff lifted her chin so she was forced to do so. "Nothing your parents do is your fault. Your dad cheating? _Nothing_ to do with you." Mar was disbelieving. "I love you the way you are, Stiles loves you and Aje. You don't need to change." He looked at the drugs in his hands. "Okay, maybe we could try to get a handle on this whole thing." He held up the bowl. "But I can help you. You just have to promise you'll try." Mars nodded, knowing good and well she wasn't even going to make an effort after the first day-but very well aware that if she agreed he wouldn't bring her into the station.

"I promise." They hugged tightly. "I promise, I promise."

"Good." He let her go. "You know you have to go to the conferences tonight, right?" He reminded her. She sighed deeply.

"Yeah, I guess."

And she did go. For a little anyways.

She felt a little funny in a way she couldn't quite place. The same way she had felt the night of the party at Danny's. Airy, not all there, not quite in the way drugs made her feel… it was more like a void, like she didn't quite have control. She was aware that she was moving, but she wasn't aware of much else; her ears rang as well. "Mars! Babe, hey." Don caught up to the girl wandering aimlessly down the hall, looking rather lost. He stood in front of her now. "Are you okay?" He stroked her cheek with his thumb as she closed her eyes, smiling.

Ethereal. That was it. That was how she felt.

Her response to Don was noticeably delayed. "Fine." She kissed him, a small sort of giggle accompanied it. "Want to go shag?" She was floating just above the ground in her mind.

"Uh." He hesitated and looked back at his mom pushing his dad down the hallway. "Yeah come on." He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the nearest classroom, and crashing their lips together. Don was completely sure she was wrecked, but he wasn't about to pass up sticking his dick in her.

As they made out, and Mars floated farther and farther from reality, voices could be heard on the other side of the classroom wall. Mars broke the kiss and approached the door, not opening it yet, just listening.

"A truancy officer, Mary!" Sayid bellowed outside. "You work at the fucking school! How do you let this happen?!"

"At least I speak to her! When is the last time you did _anything _as a father?! Huh?"

"How is she failing **YOUR** class?!" Sayid went back to the subject of school. "Please tell me how that is?"

"Because she doesn't fucking show up! I'm not going to pass her just because she is my kid!" Mary shouted, drawing more attention. "She has to earn things, a lesson you never let her learn! You think you can buy her? Seriously?"

Sayid glanced around at the bystanders, embarrassment swelling in his chest before walking away from his wife. Mars had left the classroom, and she stood at the foot of the crowd in his path, just watching. She stood to the side as he approached and let him pass, wordlessly. Which was worse than if she had said anything.

Don kissed the top of her head and rubbed her shoulder. "I gotta go," she whispered and pulled away. Don wouldn't have let her go if he'd known she was going off on her own, she was too out of it. And he did care. Unfortunately, she followed her father's path, so no one stopped her. Once outside, Mars branched out towards the preserve. Something pulled her to it. It was that ethereal feeling, whatever it was. Like some sort of divine presence had possessed her, was influencing her. Mar couldn't call it possession, because she knew what she was doing, she knew she was following that subconscious lull, that gut feeling.

And then everything was black, as it was entirely too often.

* * *

"_Last night local campers discovered a body- or rather- what was once a body, by the lake. With all the chaos that happened at the high school, it's no wonder that the investigation escaped the publics eye." "Though we don't yet have access to all information at this time, what we can say is grim." "Here's Lindsey correspondence from the scene."_

_"Thank you John. It was here that sometime in the last 48 hours an unfortunate jogger met his grim end. Now, again, we don't yet have all the details, but from what I understand this was no cougar attack, but it shared that very same ferocity with a much smaller bite. Beacon Hills may be rid of a killer mountain lion, but has it been replaced with a murderer that walks among us?" "Stay tuned to channel 3 for your first looks into the lakeside killer case! Back to you John." _

"Bunch of bullshit is what that is." Aje turned of the television. "It's all about the rating game. We all know it was probably just a cub from the same family tree as the dead one, but America wants to be scared. They want a story." Mars looked at Aje, feigning interest.

"What the fuck are you saying you pretentious son of a bitch." She blinked, she just came back to check on Aje, then she was out of here.

He pushes his sister a little. "I'm just saying, they don't even know if it was a person that killed the guy and they already gave the killer a name? Load of bollucks if you ask me."

"Well no one asked you." She rolled her eyes.

"What's with the attitude?

Mar stretched. "You didn't tell me." She changed the subject.

"Tell you?"

"About Dad and that nurse bitch." Mars couldn't quite place the look that passed over his features. "We're supposed to tell each other everything." She sighed.

"Are you going to tell Mum?" Was the first thing that escaped his mouth even though it wasn't the best thing to say.

"Maybe. I'm not sure yet."

"Please don't." He pleaded and reached for her hand, she let him take it. "Mar, I don't want them to split, Nes would say the same thing, I know it." He sighed. "I don't want things to change right before I go to college, it's supposed to be the most important time of my life." Mars pulled her brother into a hug.

"Okay." She agreed.

"Okay?" He asked pulling away.

Mars nodded. "Okay."


	8. The Parting Glass

**Beast of Burden**

**Chapter Eight**

**The Parting Glass**

* * *

"_He broke my heart. You merely broke my life." _

― _Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita_

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Mars was jolted awake, she jerked her shoulder, pushing Stiles off of

her and onto the ground. "What are you doing? Bloody_ wanker._" Mars sat up and watched Stiles as he lay on the ground, making no effort to pick himself up. She wasn't really a _massive_ fan of being jumped on first thing in the morning. Even if the person who jumped on her was a scrawny bag of skin and bones.

"You overslept." Stiles stated, as if it were obvious. Mar looked at her phone for the time, cringing at the bright light in the dark room._**5:24 a.m.**_

"And you obviously don't value your life." She threatened, sitting up and kicking him in the side.

Stiles stood, holding where she kicked. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to kick a person when they're down."

"Yes, but what fun would that be?"

"You truly are a terrible human being." She shrugged and got up off the couch. "And keep your voice down, Dad's still sleeping."

Mars rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen, having since remembered what she was late for, Stiles followed. Mar pulled the pancake mix from the cupboard. They still had a good sixteen minutes before Sheriff's alarm went off, so she didn't totally blow the breakfast in bed plan. "Have you talked to Scott yet?" He just glared at her. "It wasn't his fault, you know that, don't you?" He stayed silent and grabbed eggs and a frying pan. "If we're using your screwed up logic, you should be mad at me, too." Reminding him she wasn't at the school when she should have been.

He shook his head. "No, it's not the same." Stiles studied her for a second, her mannerisms seemed uncaring.

"What's this _really_ about, love?" She raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder at him.

"The fact he let my dad get hit by a freaking car?" Stiles nearly snapped._ How... How could she even ask that? _"Where were you anyways?"

"I don't know." She shook her head. "The Preserve maybe." Mars plugged in the waffle iron and sat on the counter beside it.

"You're joking, right?" He stopped cooking and walked over to her spot on the counter, holding her eye contact.

"Should I be?" She smirked a little, she didn't even know she did it anymore.

"Considering three bodies have been found there in the last month? Yeah, you should be!" _God_, she was so fucking stupid!

"Lower your voice," Mars scolded. Stiles held her arms against her sides, entertaining her further.

Stiles made the decision to tell her what he'd had yet to tell anyone. "I saw a picture of the alpha on Lydia's phone. There is no way you'd win against this thing." He continued before Mars could cut in. "Please be more careful Mar. _Please_. You and Dad are all I have, so please, just... I know I can't make you do anything... But I need you, okay? Dad needs you. I'd literally go insane if anything ever happened to you." It was nothing he'd never told her before, but he felt the need to reinforce with the increased frequency of her carelessness.

"I hate to break it to you, you're already insane." Stiles released her, frustrated. Mars sensed he was getting legitimately angry with her and kissed him on the cheek. "M ray sum S, desee" (_I love you. Sorry._) He tried not to smile, but when they slipped into that silly made up language that only they knew- it was hard not to.

"Yeah, you keep saying that."

They cooked a little longer, and though neither of them were terribly good at it- at least it smelled edible. So much so, in fact, that the scent of bacon lulled a half asleep Sheriff down from his bedroom. "Is that bacon?" He asked, rubbing away the leftover sleep with the back of his hand. Stiles and Mars let out a groan.

Stiles hit his head against a cupboard door; "Really, Dad? You couldn't have waited 5 more minutes?" Sheriff took note of the TV tray and the carefully placed plates on top of it.

"Oh!" He gestured back towards the stairs. "Should I just-"

"That would be ideal, yeah," Mars sassed.

* * *

Scott was hiding behind his book, occasionally glancing over the top, between Stiles and Mars, then over at Allison. He'd been avoiding her because _Derek_ told him to. Mars didn't even want to think about Derek and that vaguely pedophillic visit to her bedroom... She wasn't entirely sure that he'd quite figured out how to communicate with human beings, not alive people at least. She'd still fuck him though, he was properly fit even counting that creep factor he had going on. "Did you come up with a plan yet?" Scott asked Stiles.

"I think so," Stiles replied. Mars was glad the boys were talking again. Having them not talking was the worst, and it made her feel like she had to choose a side. And, even though she loved Scott to pieces, she would always choose Stiles over him. It was sort of a hierarchy, and it went as follows (In descending order):

-Ahmir

-Sheriff

-Stiles

-Teta

-Scott

Don was the next closest to making the list. She may not have wanted to date him, but she did genuinely care for him, even if she couldn't admit it to herself. And she supposed Lydia wasn't so bad, of course, she wouldn't do _anything_ for the girl, but Mars might've helped her out occasionally if it didn't inconvenience her too terribly.

"Does that mean you don't hate me now?" Scott tried.

"No," Stiles said with a mouth full of apple, "but your crap has infiltrated my life, so now I have to do something about it. Plus, I'm definitely a better Yoda than Derek."

Mars rolled her eyes. She hated Star Wars. Dumbledore would have been better. Gandalf. Just not that crusty old alien. The obsession with sci-fi never hit her nerd bones. Fantasy though? That hit the spot. Mars drifted off into her head, thinking of all the cool things she might've been able to do had she gotten her Hogwarts acceptance letter when she was 11. Now that she knew the supernatural stuff was real- yanno… she _was_ a British citizen and there _was _something wrong with her.

_Dear god, I'm a fucking wizard._ She'd convinced herself.

Stiles ripped her out of her thoughts by saying; "All right, you know what? I definitely still hate you. Uh–huh. Oh, yeah." And subsequently storming off with Scott in tow.

Turned out Stiles's little gears had been grinding and he had come up with a not-as-terrible-as-it-could-have-been alternative to plan A...which was Derek. And seeing as they only had until the end of the school day to convince Scott he could handle this whole shifting thing without Derek, they had to get move on.

On their free period; Scott, Mars,and Stiles met up on the lacrosse field with a "temporarily misappropriated" heart monitor, Coach Finstock's stolen cell phone, and a lot of lax gear. Before long, Scott was tied up and Stiles was pelting his best friend with balls.

"Your aim is terrible, give me the stick." Mars snatched it from Stiles' hands and put a ball in the net as she smirked at Scott. Though she wasn't angry with him like Stiles was, she knew he'd heal-causing bodily harm was one of her favorite pass times. She aimed.

"Mars. Mars, no, no. _Stiles-_UGH" Scott pleaded, cut off by the ball flying violently into his gut. He groaned in pain and hunched over. Maybe _she _should join the team with a throw like that, because he felt like vomiting. Mars smirked back at Stiles, who was smiling pretty openly and handed her another ball.

"I hurt you because I love you!" She shouted over to him, a devious smile on her lips as she sent the ball hurling at him. The unmistakable crack of ribs echoed and Scott dropped down to his knees immediately, crying out in pain. Mars, shocked, dropped the stick. She looked between Scott and Stiles frantic. _Did I do that? Did Stiles hear that too?_ He did hear it, and he was looking at her, mostly fearful, until the monitor started going crazy. Stiles picked up Coach's stolen phone and tried telling Scott to control his heart rate. Scott withered, breathing heavily, and broke the ties that bound him. Mar felt her heart rate rising along with the beeping of the monitor. There was no way that she broke his ribs with a lacrosse ball, she could _barely_ throw a decent punch. No, no, _no,_ it was a fluke. Just a fluke. "I need to go." Mars panicked, unable to stay and face Scott and his inevitable questions and her guilt.

She pushed past Stiles and walked towards the school. "See you at your house," She mumbled.

Jackson stood by the bleachers and directly in Mars' path. "Why are you watching us?" She snapped at him, her voice far less confident than he'd ever heard her.

A sickly looking Jackson fumbled with his words for a moment. "Are you on what he's on?" He questioned. He'd heard that crack from where he was watching. It was nearly impossible. With how he was right now, how weak? He needed that boost, and he knew that she'd have it. "Mars, you gotta hook me up with your dealer." He demanded, Mars felt rage swelling in her, she wasn't a druggie. Sure… she was high sometimes, but she was doing better, she promised Sheriff, she was clean. The anger she harbored towards Jackson was enough to distract her from her fear for a moment.

Mars clenched her fists and swung, hitting Jackson square in the jaw. Her instinct told her to protect Scott, he was the one with the real problem, under real suspicion. "Leave. Scott. Alone," She seethed and grabbed his shirt, pulling him towards her. What she lacked in height, she more than made up for in menace. "Or, so help me god, I'll crack one of your ribs with my bare hands." When she released him, he ran off with urgency and she couldn't help but laugh before the crippling anxiety filled her once again.

She looked back at the boys. Stiles was helping Scott up, and Scott was saying something, but she was too far away to hear. Her breathing was heavy as she called her brother, she needed him, she felt like she hadn't seen him in forever even though in reality it had been less than 24 hours. He'd calm her down, his obliviousness to the world outside his own would be the cure she needed. It took a while for him to answer, the echo when he said; "You alright, sis?" told her he was in the WC.

"You want to skip next period?" She questioned, picking at her nails. She needed him to say yes.

"I got Mum next." He told her.

"Skip it, Aje. What's she going to do exactly? Ground you?" Aje sighed. Mars and he both knew that she wouldn't do anything to her darling baby boy. And even if she _was _going to, it wasn't like he had a girlfriend or did anything but go to his job at the bowling alley and study. There was only one thing she'd ever be angry at him for- and Mars wasn't gonna spill the beans, that was all up to Aje. Even he needed a dirty little secret.

"Where are you?" He could tell by her voice she was tweaking over something.

"I'm by the lacrosse field." She told him.

"Ten minutes," He told her before they both hung up their phones. Mars caught a glimpse of Scott and Stiles returning from the lacrosse field, and, feeling no desire to deal with them at that moment, Mars hid around a corner, waiting for them to disappear into the school. Once she heard the familiar sound of the heavy metal doors clang shut, she emerged from her hiding spot, just as Aje walked out the door, they went in.

He gave her a relaxed half-wave, "Hey, I just saw Sco-"

The look that Mars gave Aje was enough to shut him up, but she added, "Don't mention them."

"Noted," he said with a nodded. "So, what's the emergency?"

"Nothing," she told him as she started to walk away. "I need a distraction and you're the only person I can stand right now."

"Wow, thanks for that backhanded compliment, sis," Aje teased, a curl falling out of line with the rest and flopping in his face.

"Just shut up and follow me."

* * *

Having spent the afternoon with Aje was great and all, but it didn't work well enough to get Mars out of her foul mood. Now, it was getting dark and she didn't feel like being outside any longer. Aje had gone home a half hour ago, and she denied his attempts to ask her to come home - she wasn't anywhere close to being read to see Dad. The thought alone just ticked her closer to her edge. So, she ended up the same familiar house she always ended up at. But, just as she was walking up the front steps to the Silinski house, the front door flew open and both Scott and Stiles raced out the door flying right past her.

It was Scott who first noticed Mars. "Mars, hey," he greeted awkwardly. "We, uh-" he scratched the back of his neck. What was he supposed to say to her exactly?

"You two look like you're in a hurry," she pointed out, eyeing the industrial wire cutters that Stiles held. Her interests weren't high, but after catching the telling glance that Scott and Stiles shared, she was intrigued. "What? Where are you guys going?" Maybe if she joined in now, they could all just forget about her cracking Scott's ribs up. Maybe. Maybe she just imagined it all.

They shared yet another look. "Mars, it's about, you know..." Stiles trailed off, they didn't particularly want her to come with them. Which was a first.

Mars caught on to the gist and was suddenly hit with a wave of defensiveness. "Save it. Where are you really going?"

"The school," Scott shared. Stiles hit him and he shrugged.

"Why?" She questioned, not a fan of them shutting her out like this.

"We're meeting Derek there to try and capture the Alpha." Scott wasn't sure how Mars would respond.

"_You're_ trying to capture the Alpha?" Her voice took on a judgmental tone, . "Oh, that's a good one. Good luck mates." She threw up a peace sign and headed for the door.

"We have a plan." Stiles stated, he didn't like being belittled the way Mars had just treated them.

"Well, there's no use in me just sitting at home all alone. I'm coming with you guys," she told them, moving towards Stiles' jeep, and still trying to keep her air of disinterest.

"You sure?" Scott asked. It was one thing for Stiles and him to go out to try and deal with this, but he wasn't going to put Mars' life at risk. The fewer the better, and it wasn't like she wouldn't do the same exact thing to them. But, he knew that if she had her mind set on coming along, there was no way he'd be able to change her mind.

"Yep, now lets go." She climbed right in, and Stiles shook his head.

When they pulled up to the school, Derek was waiting for them while leaning against his oh-so-cool camaro. The three climbed out from the jeep and immediately Derek had a problem. "What's she doing here?"

"_She_ wanted to see this amazing plan fail," Mars sassed. She could answer for herself, thank you very much.

"Fine, but don't blame me if you get hurt." Feeling as if he was finished with Mars, Derek turned his gaze towards the boys. "He's in there." Derek nodded to the back of his car.

They all bent and looked through the side window. Scott's boss lay awkwardly against the opposite side, arms tied and mouth covered with duct tape. "Oh, he looks comfortable," Stiles commented. Both Mars and Scott hit him.

Scott directed the two others away from Derek and towards the School. "Hey, where are you going?" Derek asked.

Scott stopped and turned. "Leading the Alpha here."

Mars wasn't quite sure what she was going to do to help, but she followed along. "So, what's the plan?"

Stiles clapped Scott on the back. "Scotty here is going to use his newfound wolf powers to call the Alpha."

Mars rolled her eyes. "I got that part."

"I'm going to howl into the loud speaker," Scott clarified.

"You can do that?" She asked skeptically, one brow raised. "Well I'll be keeping watch over Derek, I don't trust him." They let her walk back outside.

Derek was still standing in the same spot when she got back to him, she leaned against the jeep across from him. They stood in silence, glaring at each other until the sound of Scott's "howl" came over the loudspeaker. "You've got to be kidding me." Derek noted.

"This is just embarrassing." Mars agreed.

They waited, another minute until Scott tried again and the ground shook beneath their feet. Derek started walking to the doors of the school immediately, looking deeply pissed off. "Did you hear that?!" Stiles exclaimed, busting through the doors with Scott trailing just behind him. Mars had a feeling, judging by Derek's tense body language, they'd done something very, very wrong.

"Are you trying to get us all killed?!" Yup. They'd done something very wrong. Mars saw the black figure coming towards them first, but she couldn't speak.

Mars screamed when she saw it, and smelt it's foul, rotting breath. The creature was larger than anything she'd ever seen, angrier too. As it pierced it's claws straight through Derek, all she could think of was _at least it wasn't one of us_. And she didn't have time to regret thinking it, didn't have time to mourn. She started to run before Scott and Stiles got the chanced. She ran fast and far before turning around. "Scott?!" She screeched, her voice hoarse and her chest heaving; "Stiles?!" She managed a little louder and her voice cracked. Should she go back? Would she even be able to do anything if she did? That wasn't just some werewolf back there, it was an alpha... _The _alpha. Terrified, she looked around- it hadn't followed her. She rested her hands on her knees and hunched over in an attempt to catch her breath.

She had to do something. If she didn't, she'd be a wreck, she'd be paralyzed. She'd left her best friends behind and the reality of that weighed heavily on her chest. But she hadn't thought, and her instincts were so very selfish even if she fought not to be. She hated that about herself. She chose flight over fight, and it might have cost her friends their lives.

But, maybe, despite her selfishness, there still something she could do. So, she started running , the whole five miles straight to the sheriffs station. She was still high off adrenaline when she reached the police building. Fortunately, her thoughts couldn't catch up with her.

"Sheriff!" Mars shouted, busting through the station doors. Her shirt was ripped in four separate places from snagging it on trees and a few fences. Her arms and face were dirty, her eyes were red from crying, and her feet were bleeding. Needless to say, all eyes turned to the manic child nearly kicking the door in and stumbling to the back. She went into his office without so much as a knock, and ran to him before he even knew what was happening. "Scott and S-Stiles-" she heaved, "T-the-the school-" she held her throat as she gasped for air. "It had-" She tried to get words out but her closed throat was preventing them. "Red eyes," she croaked, and began to cry with the little water she had left in her. It was the ugliest cry anyone would ever see. "It killed." Heave. "Him." Heave. "Claws. Impaled." Was all she could manage now. "Help." She choked, sounding desperate. She couldn't think straight anymore, but she needed him to believe. She needed him, now more than ever.

Sheriff handed her his glass of water from the desk. The whole station stood outside the glass windows to his office to see what he was going to do. He dragged his hand down his face, taking a deep breath. He knew that all eyes were on him. Everyone knew that he treated Mars with different rules. He had to stop, he _knew_ he had to- it could cost him his job. But when she was like this, so broken, it was _almost_ too hard not to do as he had always done. Mars was clearly out of her right mind, he thought. Red eyes and claws? Dispatch had already received calls about pranks at the school. Whatever they'd done, it must have scared a very high Mars into seeing things that wasn't there, or so he rationalized. "What did you take?" He questioned, calmly.

Mars looked up at him from behind her glass of water. As was evident in every inch of her features, she had never felt more betrayed in her entire life- she couldn't have heard him right. He wouldn't... He- "what?" she asked almost silently.

"What are you on?" He repeated, more serious this time. He knew once he started listing off things he'd heard she'd taken through the grapevine that he was done, "Molly? X? Meth? What is it?" Mars raised her hand and slapped him clean across the face. Well, she did in her imagination. She had to fight everything in her to keep it just in her head.

"Nothing!" She shouted. "I'm sober, but that's not the point. They need your help!" She had the excess fabric of his shirt clenched in her fists, and she was leaning against him for the support that her legs were too tired to give her. "_I need your help._ You have to save them, you have to do something." The weight of the world pressed back on her shoulders when she remembered how she'd run away without looking back. How she'd left two of the most important people in her life _for dead_. Could she live with herself if they didn't make it? She genuinely didn't think so.

"I'll go check it out." He held his head and looked back out at the sea of deputies. "But I'm going to have to keep you here overnight," and he motioned Marks in the room. Sheriff felt his stomach drop when he made eye contact with her. He'd never seen anything like it, eyes so deeply hurt… so betrayed. He hated this, he hated everything about this. He wanted to believe her so badly, but everything just added up to her being high, and she'd made him a promise. A promise she broke. This was killing him. He wanted to say 'just kidding', pull her to the cruiser, drive to the school, and just take care of everything. When Deputy Marks approached Mars, he had to choke down the urge to shove him away.

Mars didn't know what she wanted to do. Did she want to lash out? Or was that just the overwhelming feeling of bile rising up in her throat? Regardless of what this was, she stood stock still, just staring at Sheriff unable to make sense of what he was doing. _No_. She thought. _You have to believe me, why don't you believe me!_ Her head was screaming and she couldn't turn it off.

_Useless. Coward. Addict. _She heard the many words that had been attributed to her over the years spiraling in her head, in her own voice. She covered her ears and screamed. She was acting insane, she knew she was, but she couldn't get a handle on it, she couldn't stop. "WAKE UP" Came her violent screech from the top of her lungs as she continued holding her ears. She'd snapped. Whatever all this was leading up to, she'd snapped. _Sheriff_ didn't believe her. She couldn't save Scott and Stiles. If it had been anyone else, they'd be on their merry way. But no. It was her, it was her fault they were going to die.

So it was a dream.

It had to be a dream.

"wake up, wakE UP WAKE UP." Blood broke out of her palms from where she dug her nails into them. Everyone stood and watched for a second, unsure of what to do.

When he snapped out of the semi-hypnotic state he'd been in, Sheriff placed his hands on either of her shoulders until she met his eyes. "Mars, sweetheart, I need you to calm down, I need you to breath," he asked. "Can you do that for me?" He watched her big blues begin to register as she tried to breath, gradually becoming less labored, but still shaking. He raised a hand to her cheek and moved her hair behind her ear. "I need you to listen to me now, can you do that?" She nodded, still focusing on her breathing. "You are not asleep. You're very much awake, and I am deeply worried about you right now." She could see the tears in his eyes, but she continued.

"Don't worry about me- Scott and Stiles- they-" Her breathing picked up again, Sheriff calmed her down again, reminding her to breath.

"I promise you we're going to go look into it," he swore, Mars closed her eyes in relief. Sheriff shut his eyes tightly to try and keep the flood threatening to spill out behind the gates. He opened them, Mars's were still shut. "Now, Mars, you're going to go with Deputy Marks and take a few tests."

It sunk in for her then, that he really meant it. That she was awake, that she couldn't get out of this. That she'd just went absolutely mental in front of every on-duty cop in town. "Okay." She agreed with a cracked voice, just now opening her eyes. Sheriff dropped his hands and motioned to Marks that it was okay to take her out now.

Sheriff sat down on the corner of the desk and held his head his hands. This shouldn't be so hard. She broke the law and he was a cop. Simple. End of story. And, yet, when she looked back at him he felt sick to his stomach. He wanted to vomit. He was putting half of his reason for living in a holding cell for christ's sake! If this test came back positive, she'd be doing time in a juvenile detention center. It would be his fault her future was ruined. But if they were negative, that would almost be worse. Drugs? They could send her to rehab, she could get better.

Whatever _that _was? That complete break he'd just witnessed? There was a whole other mess of problems if she really was sober. And he knew he couldn't do anything to help her if that was the case.

The station looked as if they'd gone back to work, but he knew everyone was watching him. To avoid crying out in frustration, he grabbed his keys and jacket, and headed out the door.

* * *

Marks unlocked the holding cell door the next morning. "Tests came back negative." He looked impressed, but arrogant. "Sheriff Stilinski is waiting for you in his office." Mars snatched her things from his hands and did her best not to spit in his face. It would be a miracle if they didn't send her over to a nut house after last night.

"Tell Sheriff I won't be home tonight." She walked out the front door, knowing Sheriff would take care of anything that needed to be taken care of. She pulled out her phone and dialed Stiles' number. She heard mumbling on the other end. "Stiles? Stiles is that you?"

"Mars? Mars, are you okay?" He questioned.

She let out a breath of relief. "You're alive. That's good." She ignored his question. "Are you home? Is Scott there? Is Scott okay?"

"Yes I'm home, no Scott's not here, and he's okay physically, but Allison kind of... Dumped him."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"Should I go see him?"

"No, he said he wants to be alone. I'm giving him a day before we go in," He explained.

"Alright, can you come pick me up?"

"Yeah, where are you at?"

"Your dad didn't tell you?" Mars asked, surprised-a tone she didn't often have.

"Uh, no? Was he supposed to?"

"I'm at the Station." With that she hung up the phone and sat on the curb. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sheriff walking to her. She pulled her knees into her chest, averting any eye contact with him. Sheriff stood a small distance away with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"You know I didn't want to do that, don't you, kid?" Mars remained silent. "I really hope this is a wake up call." Though she was shaking from anger, Mars managed to hide it well enough that he didn't notice. He went to sit beside her- "Don't." She spat. They both knew she was absolutely mental now. Everyone knew.

He sat anyways. "Mars. I need you to understand."

"I understand just fine," she sneered. Oh, she understood alright. He'd betrayed her in the worst possible way, and now he thought he was '_helping_' her. Seriously? Fuck that.

"I don't think you do," He sighed. "You don't have to say anything, just listen."

"Talk if you want, but I wont be listening."

Sheriff leaned forward and held his head in his hands. He forgot how young she was sometimes. She always seemed so adult, but her pain brought out her immaturity, reminding him she was just fifteen. She was just a kid, like his son "It's not on your record. No charges."

"Well I'd fucking hope so, because I didn't do anything wrong."

"I know that, kiddo." He knew he wasn't going to get through to her so he stood up, sighing. "Just stay safe. Hale is still out there," he reminded her. Mars' head snapped up, eyes wide from surprise. Derek was alive? What did he mean? What happened at the school? Were only some of the few questions that were racing through her mind.

"Derek?" she repeated. Sheriff looked down at her.

"Yeah, he locked the kids in the school. All the murders were his doing." _But thats a lie, he's dead, _She thought. _Unless Scott and Stiles needed him to be a scapegoat. _

"Uh. Yeah." She agreed. If they'd said it, they needed it to stay that way. So she'd stay silent for now.

BREAK

Mars took the keys to her dad's Mercedes. She was milking the affair as much as she possibly could: money, cars, anything she could think of she asked for. And, because she wouldn't speak to Sayid, she would merely hold out her hand and shake her head yes or no. She knew it was childish, but she didn't give a fuck.

"Nay, want to stop looking in the mirror? Let's move it, princess." Nay rolled her eyes and threw her windbreaker over her black leotard. Mars agreed to take her because she wouldn't punish her little sister when her parents couldn't bring her to ballet, not because she wanted to help her parents out. That wasn't it at all.

"You don't have to be a bitch all the time you know," Ineas noted as she brushes past her sister. Mars bit the inside of her cheek, holding her tongue. "And try not to kill us." Nay remarked, getting in the car. She was less than comfortable with her sister (who was only two years older than her) driving, Mars didn't even have a permit.

Ineas could never figure out why everyone seemed to love Mars so much, why she got invited anywhere and everywhere. She couldn't wait for the day when Mars would be some washed up has-been with leathery skin, stringy hair, and the voice of a 90 year old smoker. Maybe Ineas was a little jealous. Mars was, in Nay's opinion, prettier than she was, and whiter. So, it made it feel like everything was easier for Mars, being how she was. Those big blue eyes behind long lashes, dark brown waves, freckled olive skin... It just wasn't fair. All the boys **wanted** Mars, and she could barely get any to look at her. Maybe her hair was too curly, or her nose too big, or her brown eyes were just too boring. She frequently wished she could've got more from her mom's side of the family, but she was her fathers child through and through. Little did she know, Mars wished she could look more like Ineas and Ahmir. She'd give anything to not be the spitting image of her mother.

As they drove, Mar said next to nothing, and let her sister jump out without so much as a goodbye. Mars plugged in her phone to the aux cord and hit play, letting whatever was playing last continue to play.

_Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well._

Mars held in a laugh. She hated this song, so why did she even download it? But, she let it play as she drove. Maybe a little faster and a little bit more reckless than she should have, but she was lost in her own mind.

Sirens wailed behind the Benz, and Mars jerked the wheel, now pulled out of her thoughts. She hit the steering wheel with so much force it felt like she might have broken her wrist. "FUCK," she screeched. Unless this was Sheriff, she was going to juvie. She breathed in a shaky breath and pulled over, thinking that maybe she could get out of this. If she couldn't run, maybe she could bribe.

She unbuttoned her shirt and hiked up her skirt, rolling down the window. She nearly screamed in frustration when she saw it was Marks. He was a stick in the mud, he was the sole reason she couldn't even look at sheriff right now. "Deputy Marks," she greeted, trying to mask her nerves. "What can I do for you, love?"

"Well, well, if it isn't Miss Moss," he cooed, leaning slightly against the side of the car in such a way that he was almost leaning over her, "I would ask for license and registration… but we both know you don't have either of those." Mars bit her lip. "Out of the car," he ordered, motioning her out of the car. Mar complied, making sure her movements were hyper sexualized. Boldly, she moved to him and put a hand on his cheek, pressing her hips against his.

"I'm sure there is some arrangement we can work out, Deputy Marks," Mars said, kissing his chin. "One where I don't get arrested, and no one knows about this?" Marks made the mistake of looking into her hypnotic eyes; he licked his lips.

"You didn't think I'd really arrest you." He smirked, slipping his hand over her ass, giving it a squeeze as he did so. "Sheriff may say it's okay, but we both know I wouldn't exactly be number two anymore." Mars smiled, excited that maybe now she wasn't going to have to sleep with him. "Bend over the hood." She was wrong, really wrong. He unbuckled his pants and turned her around, pulling up her skirt and moving her panties to the side before pushing into her.

After they were done, no, after _he_ was done, Mars wanted to hurl. She was disgusted with herself more than anything, but she pushed herself off of the hood and adjusted. She would get over it. She always did, and she always would. "I knew you'd be easy," Marks stated as they fixed themselves. "If you ever want to do this again, you know where to find me." He winked, making Mars want to know what was going through his head. But she wouldn't let herself ask.

Instead, she got back into her dad's car, drove to the pharmacy for the coveted plan B pill, and headed for Stiles. If she steered clear of the common area, maybe she wouldn't have to see Sheriff, God knows she didn't want to.

On the ride over, she was locked in her head. And after only a half hour since she'd fucked the deputy, she was over it. It hadn't been that bad anyways. She did what she had to do and got herself out of trouble- and she didn't see anything wrong with that. Why should she?

Mars found herself at Stiles' bedroom door, and she went in without knocking. "I'm sleeping in here tonight." She stated, not wanting to elaborate. He should just _know_ it was about his dad. Thankfully, he did, and he valued his life enough not to ask questions.

He looked up from his spot on his bed, a very chewed up pencil in his mouth. "Okay, but for the record, I'm still mad at you. My room _still_ stinks." Mar bit her lip.

"I said I was sorry. I had an episode."

"Yeah, I got that." She sat beside him. "Don't get me wrong, having you stay here is awesome. But can you tell me _why_ now? It's been over a week _and_ your grandma is home. You're never here more than a couple days. Is everything okay?"

Mars was silent as she contemplated coming clean about what happened with her father. Ultimately, he would find out and she _did_ appreciate him not asking until now- even after everything that went down with the school and his dad (which he still wasn't very clear on). "I walked in on Da with some bitch." She flipped through the papers he was looking at, catching a glimpse of headlines: -**The Benefits of Rehab,**

**-Interventions: A how to wiki-guide. **

Something twisted in her stomach, and as she saw the next one it was like someone knocked the air from her lungs. **Understanding Schizophrenia. **

She tried to cover the papers, pretend she didn't see them- but her face gave her away as it always seemed to. Stiles froze a little, Mars tried to go on with the previous conversation with a now shaky voice. "Aje, he- he asked me not to say anything." She continued. "And it's… it's A.J." She took in a deep breath. "So, you know."

Stiles stood and walked to her, he couldn't really form words, couldn't quite figure out what it was he wanted to say (or if he could even say anything). He knew she'd seen those papers, and that it was the very last thing that she needed, especially after what he'd heard happened at the station. "We love you, you know." Stiles tried.

"So, anything fun going on this weekend." Mars changed the subject, smiling now as if nothing happened.

"Not particularly." Stiles recalled, happy to play along for the time being.

"Let's get Scott drunk. He's all mopey because of Allison." Mars paused. "I hate mopey people."

"Question. In getting Scott drunk, am I getting drunk, too?" Stiles questioned excitedly.

Mars rolled her eyes, giving him a slight smirk to let him know the answer was yes. She lay down. "I'm sleeping in here tonight. I'm rather sick of the couch," she noted.

"Fine, but if you start grinding your teeth again, I am literally kicking you off." Stiles threatened, and Mars knew he would. But he knew she'd get her retaliation if he did.

Stiles moved the remainder of his things off of his bed, relocating them to the ground. They both changed into their sleepwear. Which consisted of a old (kinda smelly) shirt and plaid flannel bottoms for buzzcut boy and next to nothing for blue eyes. Just underwear and a shirt she was bound to toss off in her sleep.

Stiles turned off the lights and got in bed with her, she laid against his chest and he wrapped his arm around her middle. Just as they'd done for years.

Once his breathing steadied and his muscles relaxed, Mars got up and went to those papers, pulling out **Understanding Schizophrenia.**

This would turn out to be the longest night she'd had yet.

* * *

**A/N: chapter co-written by Shirosagi**


	9. Fire Meet Gasoline

** Beast of Burden**

**Chapter Nine**

**Fire Meet Gasoline**

_"This, perhaps, is how lives are measured, _

_a series of abandonments that we hope beyond reason _

_will eventually be reconciled." _

― Anthony Doerr

"What are you doing, Mar?" Stiles questioned groggily as he woke. Mars looked up from his computer screen, quickly exiting all tabs of incognito exploration. Mars was sitting up next to him, he laid his head on her lap so he could see the screen. "You've seen this show a hundred times." He mumbled, making himself comfortable, Freaks and Geeks wasn't so bad.

"Bill was the first love of my life." Mars noted, playing with the short hair on his head.

"Were you up all night?" Stiles asked, Mars unplugged the headphones from the jack and nodded. Despite his concern he mumbled "Cool." And closed his eyes for a moment. "What time is it?"

Mars looked at her phone; "8:45"

"Early." He commented. "Aren't you tired?"

"No." Mars stretched a little bit, blocking out any sort of concern she had for herself. It was easier that way.

Stiles noticed her distance. "Are you okay?"

"I'm deeply annoyed," She noted, transfixed on the screen and acting like she didn't want to be disturbed.

He made himself comfortable. "Right, I'll stop talking then."

"No you won't."

"Yeah, probably not."

A wave of guilt hit her when she saw his face fall. "Well if you must talk, at least say something worth listening to." She rolled her eyes and shut the computer, moving it to the bedside table.

Stiles didn't move though. "You're in a pissy mood"

"I'm always in a pissy mood." She commented.

"Yeah, that's very true." They both went silent. Stiles had a lot on his mind, a lot of questions that he needed answers. He wasn't afraid to ask, he was used to her lashing out on him, but he didn't want to remind her of last night. On the other hand, it seemed better to do it now when it was still fresh than to wait and ruin everything later on. "So, uh, what happened with you and my dad?"

"What do you mean?" She stopped playing with his hair.

"When I talked to him yesterday he was stressed and quiet and… not very dad." Stiles felt her tense.

"He's got a lot on his plate."

"Yeah, I know, but I have a feeling it has something to do with you getting put in custody? What happened?" He intentionally neglected to mention the deep rooted feeling of dread he had when they were separated at the school and the subsequent panic attack in front of Lydia. He thought she was dead, it was like someone had killed him too when the thought occurred to him. He had to know how she got there.

"I don't want to talk about it." Mars shook her head, trying to calm down her stomach.

Stiles sat up swiftly, becoming twitchy in his frustration. "You never want to talk."

Mars got up, putting pants on. "I have to bring Da's car back. I'll get the booze while I'm out. Meet you and Scott later?" She didn't wait for a response, she was already halfway out the door by the time she finished her sentence.

"Mars, come on." Stiles jumped up and went after her, turning Mars around once her got hold of her arm. "You can't just shut me out-" He lamented. "Again." He ran a hand down over his face in the same fashion Sheriff was prone to. His frustration was rapidly getting the better of him. "We're supposed to tell eachother everything." He wouldn't let her eyes leave his, why was she being like this. He couldn't comprehend it. He'd been through everything with her, he knew everything about her, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out what happened along the way that made her how she was now. He missed the old her, the Mars who was full of joy and could move mountains and loved so deeply she couldn't stand the butterflies in her stomach with nearly everyone she met. In that moment he realized something he hadn't before. He was in mourning.

Mars' shoulders fell along with her cool demeanor. "Sheriff thought I was on something. I freaked out. There's nothing to tell, if you want to know so bad, ask one of the 20 people that saw it." And the walls re-emerged as quickly as they'd fallen. She shoved him off and didn't give him the chance to catch her.

When she got to the car, she turned the music so loud she wouldn't have been able to hear a banshee scream let alone her own thoughts. And she made it to her parents home in record time, intentionally leaving the volume on as loud as possible for her father when he turned it on.

She brought the car keys inside and dropped them on the kitchen counter before heading to her room and changing into clean clothes and wiping off her makeup. She made sure Doc was fed and kissed him before heading back for the door. "It wasn't very nice to leave just as I got here, you know." Teta's thick accent came from behind her.

Mars stopped with the muscles in her back tensing before walking back into the kitchen where her grandmother sat on a barstool. "I didn't feel I had much of a choice."

"There is always a choice, Tera." Teta used the name only she could call her. Mars didn't want yet another lecture, but kept the thought close to her chest. "What's this about?"

"It's not important." Mars couldn't make herself relax, she just felt attacked and it seemed like it would never end.

"You got arrested again, I'm going to disagree." Mars thought this wasn't like Teta, frankly, Mars didn't know Teta knew about any of the previous arrests. "Be honest for once, girl." Mars licked her lips in annoyance and held her tongue out of respect. "Is it about happened with your father?"

"You know?" Mar couldn't figure out what to make of that.

"Of course I know, Tera. She's not the first and she sure as hell will not be the last." Mars felt tears welling in her eyes, what could she possibly say to that? Was her family honestly that fucked?

"And you're okay with this?"

"Of course I am. He's my son." Teta was always honest, it was both her best and her worst trait. Mars knew her family strongly favored men, but this seemed to push it too far. "They all do it, your grandfather did it too. They are men. Realize this and move on. Do not punish your father for what he cannot control."

"What he can't control?" Mars had to stop and remind herself Teta was old and from a country where women formerly had next to no say in things. It wasn't her fault. "I- I can't-" She walked away, and bumped into Mary on her way out. "Mom," She gave an awkward nod. She never thought she'd be siding with her mother, let alone feeling sympathy. God damnit Aje.

"Mars." They both stood still, looking at eachother. "Do you need a ride anywhere?" Mary tried. That was the last thing Mars wanted. The second she was alone with her mother, she knew she would spill the beans- and she promised Aje she wouldn't.

"Erm- No, I mean, I'm good." Mars scratched the back of her neck, Mary was strongly resisting yelling at her over the arrest- she'd received a call but decided not to bail her out yet again. "Thanks though."

"Are you staying here again then? Need to know if I should set the place at dinner." Mary had her hopes, but she didn't let them get too high.

"No, don't bother. Stiles-"

"Right." Mary cut her daughter off. "Well, um, have a good day then."

"Yeah, you too."

Mars brought Vodka, Stiles brought Jack. Scott brought disinterest.

"You just need to drink more." Stiles handed Scott some more booze from where he lay, which Scott rejected, Mars was laying against Stiles, nursing the handle of Jack. Scott wasn't in the mood, and the drinking wasn't working. All he could think of was Allison. "Dude, she's just, she's just one girl." Stiles tried. "Yanno out of so many there are so many other girls. in the sea."

"Fish in the sea" Scott corrected, entirely too sober for two wasted friends.

"Fish? Why are you talking about fish? I'm talking about girls..." Stiles sighed, a stupid grin on his face. "I love girls-"

Mars cut him off. "Careful, someone might think you're over compensating."

Stiles ignored her,"I-I love- Especially one's with strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, 5'3"

"Like Lydia?" Scott had to resist rolling his eyes.

"Yeah. exactly, hey! How did you know I was talking about- about… what was I talking about?" Stiles let out a chuckle, the movement in his chest making Mars spill a little alcohol on his shirt.

Delayed, Mars said; "I'm a girl."

Stiles snorted. "No you're not." He meant it. "You're Mars."

Mars drunkenly rolled on top of him, thinking she was whispering but failing "Pretty sure I've got a pussy." The alcohol was heavy on her breath. "Just like you're Stiles, and I know you've got a cock. We took baths together, mate. No need to pretend there are gnomes down there." Stiles became flustered, her eyes felt hypnotic as he felt an erection coming. He was too drunk to care about who it was for though (in fact, he seemed to forget entirely), he liked the unfamiliar pressure on top of him. While he looked into the depths of blue, he knew he would do anything she said, always and forever. It was like she owned his soul, his body every part of him. He didn't care why this was happening, he just knew he didn't want it to end, because if it did there would be a gaping hole in him for the rest of his days. In that moment he would follow her off a cliff or to the bottom of the ocean or to the moon. He didn't care.

Stiles stuttered out quietly. "No need to be vulgar." Mars broke her gaze. Stiles felt clarity return to him, blaming what felt like hypnosis on alcohol. He laughed a little to himself, thinking everything that just went on in his head was completely ridiculous. Mars grabbed his hand and Scotts and sat up.

"But, aye, you two. Stop being pessimistic, that is my thing." She smiled. "We've got each other, right? The golden trio until the end."

"Did you just compare us to Harry Potter?" Scott raised an eyebrow.

"You bet your arse I did. Scott, You're Harry, cause you're chosen and all that shit. I'm Hermione, because you two morons would lose your heads without me. and well, Stiles. You eat a lot." She paused, hearing no signs of approval, She wasn't embarrassed in the slightest though. She released their hands and thought to herself that Ron and Hermione get together, and the idea didn't bother her so much. Maybe that was why she was offended about him saying he loves girls and then saying she wasn't one. She looked down at the boy under her, Am I into Stiles? The thought alone was enough to eat her alive, that was insane. He was like her brother… A brother that she flirts with and sleeps naked with.

"I just, I really fucking love you two. Okay?" She looks directly at Scott when she says it.

Scott smiled a little, "I love you, too, Mar." She smiled wide.

"Eh, you're alright." Stiles drank a little more, still trying to shake off those feelings from a minute ago.

Mars stood up, not even a slight stumble to her step as she announced, "I'm going to go wait in the Jeep." and headed to the car, the boys following a few minutes behind her. Scott drove them, it wasn't a very good idea for Stiles or Mars to get behind the wheel. Neither could drive all that well in the first place.

"Drop me off at home." Mars demanded as they passed the Stilinski home. Scott stopped the car.

"You sure you don't want to come over my house?" Scott questioned.

"Your mum already thinks I'm fucking you, I'm good, no need for her to think we're having an orgy." Scott groaned as Mars got out of the car, his mom trusted them all more than that now. Mars took the key off around her neck and headed for the door, but she didn't open it. When the car was gone, Mars walked back to the sidewalk and made a phone call.

"Hello?" Came a husky voice on the other end.

"Marks? Hi. Pick me up at Sheriff's house." She heard shuffling in the background, and she hung up and waited. He showed six minutes later and they drove to his house in silence. They went inside in silence. They fucked without a word.

Mars' eyes opened groggily as she looked at the alarm clock on the side table. 03:30. She looked around, still feeling the alcohol from an hour ago. Fuck. She thought. She doesn't sleep with guys she screws. It just wasn't done. "Morning sunshine." Marks joked. Mars rolled her eyes and he climbed back on top of her. "I knew you'd be back." He commented and began kissing down her front. She lets him, but doesn't respond to him.

All she managed was; "Do you have anything to drink, Marks?" He nodded and went to the kitchen, coming back with a glass of scotch, she didn't thank him. She was too trapped in her thoughts and a cycle of self hatred. "I should go." She said and downed the scotch.

"Good idea." He agreed after a moment, thinking of nothing but covering his own ass with the impending threat of the sun. She grabbed a shirt off of the ground and left- grabbing the bottle of Grey Goose on top of the fridge on her way out. She began walking back to the Stilinski's, dreading the moment she would have to see Sheriff again. He was just doing his job, she knew that, she kept reminding herself… but she couldn't make herself forgive him.

Not that she could really blame him. After all, she did have quite the track record, and what the fuck was that freak out? Was Stiles right? Was she going insane? Maybe that was why she couldn't stop making all those terrible decisions, maybe it was a chemical imbalance or whatever. And what on fucking Earth was she thinking sleeping with Marks again? Why didn't she just call Don? Don was a good guy, she should give Don a real chance one of these days. But she knew she wouldn't do that.

Mars downed what was left in the bottle and tossed it into some random lawn where it landed with a thud. "Stupid fucking little girl." She cursed herself, arms crossed over her chest protectively. She shouldn't have gone back to Marks. Her libido wasn't that raging. Sure, Marks was hot, but he was degrading, everything about him made her feel sleazy, and that was hard thing to make her feel. He himself was a sleaze, Cop fucking an underage girl- three times now.

She could still hear him, "I knew you were that kind of girl." He'd said after cumming on her back and slapping her ass. "Nice and easy." He'd pulled her hair to kiss her neck after that.

Repulsed wasn't a strong enough word, violated, dirty... those weren't quite right either. She'd never felt that before, sex was fun, carefree- or it was until now. Maybe everyone was right about her. Good for nothing kid, hot but a slut, going nowhere, a wasted brilliance; she was seeing less and less of where they were wrong, she believed them. They were probably right about where she was headed too.

Some said she'd end up a hooker, homeless, selling her body for her next hit, stealing their hard earned tax dollars. Others thought maybe she'd marry some old biker, pop out a few good for nothing kids like herself, die young from lung cancer...

Mars held her head in her hands for a moment, letting out a strangled sob. Running was the only thing on her mind. But running away from all the bad meant running from Aje; from the Stilinski's- whose house she found herself in front of now when the sun just began to make an appearance. She took the key from around her neck and unlocked the front door, drying her eyes so she'd have a chance of no one asking her questions.

After a bit of stumbling about, Mars went to the makeshift bed on the couch, trying to calm what she'd built up in her head.

"Fuck." Sheriff jumped as he rounded the corner from the kitchen. He hadn't heard her come in.

"Sorry." She mumbled. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine." Sheriff took notice of her sloppy hair, red eyes, and heavy scent of alcohol. Of her disheveled clothing and missing shoes and immediately assumed the worst. He felt his stomach turn in knots. "Did something- happen- to you?" He questioned through clenched teeth, ready to make heads roll if need be, not paying any mind to the obvious drunken-ness of it all. He knew he had a lot to make up for.

Mars shook her head. "Nothing not consensual, you don't need to worry." She said, monotone, looking ahead with a dead gaze. "I just fucked up again. It'll pass." Mars paused, but found herself unable to bear the silence. "Is Stiles home yet?" Logically, she knew he'd still be at Scott's, but it was worth asking so she could get out of the room. Sheriff was usually ready to go to work and heading out the door by now.

Sheriff shook his head. "I'm here, if you need me." He tried, knowing she was still angry with him. Little did he know though, she was too stuck in her mind to care even slightly about the arrest. Not so deep down, she understood why he did what he did- and that made the way she felt so much worse.

"Thanks." She smiled as he turned away. She didn't deserve the Stilinski's, deserve Sheriff. He was trying so hard to do right by her and she couldn't be bothered. She didn't deserve his kindness. She looked over him as he began to walk away, from his graying hair down his back, to his bum to his feet.

Then, in a fit of self destruction, Mars decided this was the moment she would make everything crash around her.

This was the moment she would burn every bridge.

This was the moment she couldn't ever come back from.

This was how she was going to escape the cycle of guilt and misery that suffocated her every moment of every day, with every breath she tried to take in. The air around her was thick, but slick, like a poison moving in waves and closing in. She felt her control slipping from her with every heavy tick of the clock that sounded like gunshots going off in her ear.

It needed to end.

So, she stood up without allowing herself a single thought, and grabbed his hand, turning him around. "Mars, are you- o- oka-" He drifted, feeling himself getting lost as her hand lifted to his cheek. She ran her thumb against the grain of his stubble and looked down from his eyes to his lips. Where her skin touched his was on fire, on his hand and on his face, it felt like a deadly addictive drug was being released from his fingertips. Her hand made her way to the back of his neck, and then, roughly, she pulled him down to her, kissing him with all she had, all she'd ever had.

Sheriff hadn't so much as looked at woman since Claudia died, let alone kissed one and as a result his instinct outweighed his conscience and he returned her kiss. Eight years of frustration and loneliness fell into it. Eight years of missing the touch of someone else pressed a hand to the fifteen year old's lower back and pulled her against him tightly.

Their mouths continued to intertwine. Neither any longer quite aware of who they were, or who they were with. Sheriff pushed Mar against the wall, kissing her chin down to her neck, satisfied when he heard the soft moan that escaped her mouth. - a moan that he had never expected to hear. The sound that had escaped from her affected him deeply, like a song that infects your mind for weeks on end, making him give in to the young girl.

The moment that Mars felt her back pressed up against the wall, something sparked alive in her. There was a hunger that could only be fulfilled by Sheriff in her life. Her hands were just as hungry as her lips, as they slid over Sheriff's back, feeling the tense muscles underneath his shirt. One hand dipped down and grasped firmly onto the waistband of Sheriff's thin sweatpants. She pushed the top of the sweats down, exposing only half of his rear. Her hand relinquished the waistband and moved to the skin she had just exposed, her fingers kneading.

Mars' head rolled back as Sheriff's mouth and tender kisses trailed up her neck and to her lips. Without opening her eyes, she felt Sheriff capture her lips, their mouths intertwining. She sighed into him, relaxing slightly, and she grasped his hands - that held her far too delicately - and moved them to where she wanted. One on her chest, forcing his hand to form to the roundness of her breast, and the other was guided to the top of her bottoms, suggesting that he do as Mars had just done to him. Sheriff's fingers hooked over the top of her pants, his fingers pushing the pair of bottoms down ever so slightly, then it returned to rest at Mars' hips. Frustrating her beyond belief.

She, with very little effort at all, flipped them over so that the Sheriff had his back to the wall. She grasped the waistband of his thin sweats and started to push them downwards. She jumped slightly, breaking from the trance that she was in, as John clasped his hands around her wrists and brought her back up to stand on her feet. "I-I. W-we can't," he said, trying will all his might to be rational. The moment that Mars had got to her knees, that's when Sheriff knew that he was about to go to a place he could never come back from - one that would destroy his son. Mars was too precious to them for him to fuck that up - pun unintended. It felt like all the air had been stolen from his lungs and his heart was beating uncontrollably. What the fuck is happening? Sheriff didn't understand, he very literally could not control himself.

Mars looked directly at the older man, stare unwavering, and in her most sultry voice she could produce, she asked, "Why not?" Her lips were slightly pouty, seemingly more swollen then when they started, and she looked up at him through long lashes and smudged same song that infected him when she'd kissed him rang in his mind, and much like his son last night, he found himself in a trance- the very one he had just managed to break. The only way he could describe it (though he would not remember it) was complete surrender, complete mind control- she was a poison. In this state he considered letting Mars go back to her knees - it was just one thing, he could stop after that, right? - but he couldn't let that happen. Could he? It took everything in his power to force his eyes to close and push her to the side, a little more forcefully that intended (he realized as she fell with a thud), and started walking away.

Mars didn't like that. Sheriff hadn't even known she'd moved until she appeared in front of him. Something was different about her this time, he couldn't place it exactly, all he knew was he felt genuine dread washing over him when she came from thin air. She made a move to kiss him again, all caution thrown to the wind, but he stopped her before she could. His hand covered her puckered lips and his hand held tightly on her arm. "No, Mars," He said, through clenched teeth. Though he sounded angry, that wasn't it. Not following through was causing him genuine, physical pain. Like someone was trying to rip his intestines out through his mouth. "This can't happen." He put her to the side, and she began to breath heavily, coming back into reality herself now. What had she just done? She watched him walk upstairs. He refused to look back, as he was convinced that he'd return to the young vixen and do what he knew he shouldn't.

Mars followed him up the stairs, stopping outside his room in a panic, unable to breath. Unable to make herself knock on the door. She'd done what she wanted, right? Alienated him? Calm down Mar, calm the bloody fucking hell down! But she couldn't, she couldn't. The instinct of running she mistakenly thought this would invoke disappeared, and she walked into Stiles' room, locked the door and shattered into infinite pieces. She felt around her pockets frantically, there had to be something in there, anything. She didn't care what. Her hands shook and shook feeling for a plastic bag or a joint or a pill. "Please, please, please." She begged the heavens in wet and ugly sobs. She checked her shoes, she stripped down all while she choked on her own bile. Was this withdrawal? She'd never felt it before, she'd never felt the physical pain of going without this long. With violently shaking hands she went through her jacket hanging over the doorknob and found some pot, but that wasn't strong enough, it wouldn't do fucking jack shit. "think, Mars, fucking think." She went over to the dresser where she'd hid Sheriff's old Vicodin and found there wasn't much of anything left, but she dry swallowed what she could. She tripped over her bag, surely there would be something in there. She found a couple pills, she took them, not even knowing what they were, and she found a half smoked pack of cigs and a lighter in it. She remembered Stiles hid booze in the laundry basket under his bed, and she chucked the third of the handle that was left, needing that familiar burn down her esophagus. After barely opening the window she lit up. Waiting to be knocked out, waiting for black.

It didn't come. The feeling of needing her stomach pumped though? That did.

She grabbed the rubbage can and stuck her fingers down her own throat, forgetting that it was made of metal mesh and everything oozed out onto her and the floor anyways. Eventually she fell on the ground clutching her stomach, still spewing on the floor in front of her but unable to lift herself up to get to a bathroom. She'd heard Sheriff leave a while back, she knew she was completely and utterly alone. Yet, she was contented. The only coherent thoughts she could form were, Don't die and please, God, don't let Stiles find me like this. She'd put him through so much, finding her dead body naked in a pile of her own vomit in his room wasn't the very last thing she wanted to do. She stuck her fingers down her throat once more, it had blood in it now. A decent amount of it. How long had she been down there? She looked at the red chunks sticking to her hand for a moment, unable to comprehend it, or do anything about it. But she was aware enough that broken sobs quickly became uncontrollable. Not long after she was too tired to keep her eyes open anymore.

Centuries of dark had came and went when the first spark was cast. "Mars!" She heard, but couldn't respond. "Mars!" The voice screeched as she felt pressure below her and fingers against her wrist.

Eyes barely open, she managed, Water. And then it was granted to her, like magic. She then felt herself be lifted by wobbly arms and then placed down again, everything was fuzzy still. She didn't know where she was or what was going on. In the background she heard water pouring and it sounded like thunder, and then she felt it on her toes. Then came a click and it cascaded around her. She found the silhouette of the angel and asked it, "Am I, truly, Death?" But the angel misunderstood.

"God, no, Mars, you're alive. you're so, very alive." It soothed. Its shoes kicked off and it tipped her head forward, her nose was bleeding.

"Why are you helping me?" She raised a hand to it's wet cheek. It didn't answer her, but she saw a phone in its hand, she knocked it out.

"I need you." She pulled the glowing white figure into the water with her. "Don't leave me." She whispered. "Don't leave me." She repeated even quieter.

The longer she was in the water the better she felt. "I won't, baby, I promise." It enveloped her in its shaking arms and her memory blacked out again.

It was dark when she re-emerged in the land of the living. Her head was throbbing, but she was in clean sheets, clothed, and in her own bedroom. She rolled over. "Mum?" She asked the slim figure next to her. Mary smiled.

"How are you feeling?" Mary asked, sitting up and stretching.

Mars stayed laying down. "Okay, I guess."

"Good." Mary said, not looking at her daughter. She didn't quite know what to do now that Mars was aware. "Can I get you anything?"

"Water?" Mars asked, Mary nodded and handed her the glass from the side table. "Thanks." Mars chugged it down. "How did I get home?"

"I brought you." Mary stated. Mars noticed Mary's hair was down- it was a rare thing- but it made her mom look softer, kind even. And also like looking in a mirror. As always, they both elected not to talk about what had passed.

"Well, thank you." Doc came and curled into Mars' lap. Mary nodded.

"No problem." Mary stood up. "I'm calling you out of school tomorrow, you could use the rest."

Mars acknowledged with a nod, trying to figure out why she wasn't in the hospital. Mary went to leave the room. "Mom?" Mary turned around, Mars' brows pushed together as she began to recall bits of what had happened.

"Yeah Mars?" Mary turned around at the door.

Mars hesitated, should she tell her mom about Da? No, she couldn't. She promised Aje. "I just-" She paused again, she didn't know or care why her mother had been at the Stilinski house. "Thank you, for um-" She wasn't very grateful to be saved. "For sparing Stiles." She managed.

"I'm your mother. You don't have to thank me." Mary paused too. "It's my job." They looked at eachother for a moment before Mary nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind her.


End file.
